LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

Aniuersitu  fff  falifontia. 

REFERENCE. 


No. 

Division 
Range 
Shelf 


Received  **^L€«',....  1  87  </~ 


University  of  California, 


OrlKT   OF1 


' 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 


BY 


DR.  F.  R.  LEES,  F.  S.  A. 

li 

AUTHOR    OF  "TEMPERANCE    BIBLE    COMMENTARY,"  "DOCTORS,  DRUGS 

AND  DRINKS,"  "CONDENSED  ARGUMENT  FOR  PROHIBITION," 

ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


TUBLISHED  BY 

Z.  POPE  VOSE  &  CO.,  ROCKLAND,  ME. 
J.  N.  STEARNS,  No.  58  EEADE  ST.,  NEW  YOBK, 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1869,  by 
J.  N.  STEARNS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  TEXT-BOOK  was  originally  designed  for  the  use  of 
young  people  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty,  as 
a  means  of  teaching  them  the  great  facts  and  principles 
which  lay  beneath  the  Temperance  Eeformation.  It  was 
desirable,  therefore,  that  very  simple  language  should  be 
used.  A  glance  at  the  Table  of  Contents  will  show  how 
comprehensive  is  the  argument,  and  that  it  is  adapted  to 
meet  the  actual  wants  of  our  age,  and  the  special  hindrances 
of  our  time,  rather  than  to  give  a  dry  cyclopedic  summary 
of  all  the  facts  and  details  of  the  subject.  Within  the  limits 
of  a  small  volume,  this,  indeed,  was  found  to  be  impossible ; 
and  we  therefore  accepted  the  alternative  of  a  thorough  and 
original  exposition.  As  we  proceeded,  however,  we  found 
that,  without  the  sacrifice  of  scientific  accuracy  and  the  re 
jection  of  the  very  words  of  high  medical  authorities  in  the 
sections  bearing  upon  Chemistry  and  Physiology,  we  must 
occasionally  use  learned  terms.  The  Questions  prepared  for 
each  part,  carefully  read  and  pondered  by  the  pupil  himself, 
—  or,  what  is  better,  put  by  a  teacher,  who  will  examine  his 
pupil  upon  them,  —  will  enable  every  youth  of  ordinary  ca 
pacity  and  education  to  understand  the  matter  quite  well. 


CONTENTS. 


i. 

Sacs.  1 — 8.  The  Morals  of  Temperance;    or,  Temperance  as 

a  Virtue, ft 

II. 

SECS.  9—50.          The  Chemical  History  of  Alcohol,    ...        10 

III. 
SECS.  51— -72.        The  Dietetics  of  Temperance,     ....        64 

IV. 
SECS.  73 — 84.        The  Pathology  of  Intemperance,       ...        83 

V. 
Sacs.  85—94.        The  Medical  Use  of  Alcohol,    ....      103 

VI. 
SECS.  95—102.      Temperance  in  Relation  to  the  Bible,      .        .      115 

VII. 
SECB.  103— 125.    The  Historical  Question :  as  to  the  Evil,     .        .      139 

VIII. 
SECS.  126—166.    The  National  Question:  and  the  Remedy,        .      176 

IX. 
SBCS.  167—193.    The  Philosophy  of  the  Cure,  .        .  266 

X. 

Summary  of  the  Argument,       .        .        .        .309 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 


I. 

as  u 

1.  "!T  is  an  ancient  artifice  of  fraud,"  says  Dean 
South,  "  to  prepossess  the  mind  by  representing  bad 
things  under  a  good  name."  Hence  the  need  of  revising 
our  definitions  and  verifying  them  by  comparison  with 
facts. — TEMPERANCE  is  a  word  in  everybody's  mouth; 
yet  what  particular  actions  it  commands,  or  forbids, 
and  why,  are  points  generally  unsettled.  This  is 
rather  owing  to  the  fact  that  people  are  not  taught  to 
think  in  a  precise  method,  than  to  anything  hard  or 
obscure  in  the  nature  of  the  subject  itself.  A  very 
simple  process  of  reasoning  will  bring  every  honest  and 
candid  mind  to  the  true  use  of  words  upon  this  matter. 
All  persons  are  agreed  that  Temperance  is  at  least  a 
moral  virtue,  and  consequently  concerns  a  course  of 
life  dictated  by  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers.  It  is 
the  governing  of  passion  and  appetite  ;  therefore,  it  can 
never  be  the  mere  gratification  of  them.  What  virtue 
is  there  in  doing  what  one  merely  likes  to  do,  and  what 
is  pleasant  or  natural  to  do?  Animal  instincts  and 
fleshly  appetites  cannot  rise  to  the  dignity  of  virtues ; 

1.  What  does  Dean  t-outh  remark  in  regard  to  falsehood  putting  on  the 
livery  of  virtue?     Why  are  people's  notions  so  unsettled  on  the  subject 
of  Temperance  ?    What  is  Temperance,  —  an  appetite  or  a  virtue  ?    What  ia 
5 


6  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

for  virtue  is  only  and  always  moral  strength  shown  in 
restraining  the  lower  nature  and  its  blind  impulses.  A 
boy,  for  example,  who  sucks  his  barley  sugar,  is  no  more 
virtuous  or  temperate  than  a  dog  that  gnaws  his  bone  ; 
but  a  child  that,  at  the  request  of  its  parent  or  superior, 
cheerfully  gives  up  some  sweets  that  have  been  given 
him,  because  he  is  told  and  believes  that  they  are 
injurious,  really  displays  a  virtuous  and  temperate  dis 
position.  In  other  words,  the  mind  rules,  and  not  the 
appetite.  Hence,  Temperance,  the  virtue,  always  begins 
with  self-denial,  and  is  not  possible  without  it.  But  the 
temperate  action  or  state  may  exist  where  there  is  no 
self-denial.  A  person  may  be  so  well-instructed,  and  so 
obedient  and  faithful  to  the  best  instincts  of  nature,  as 
to  have  no  unruly  desire  seeking  to  transgress  the 
higher  law  ;  and  the  state  or  practice  of  such  individual 
will  be  "  temperate  "  because  it  expresses  obedience  to 
Divine  law ;  that  is,  manifests  a  just  relation  between 
animal  desire  and  the  moral  will.  The  one  is  servile, 
the  other  magisterial.  Thus,  while  the  motive  will  be  a 
criterion  as  to  the  true  character  of  a  man,  it  is  "the 
fitness  of  things  "  which  must  be  the  sole  test  of  the 
rightness  of  the  action. 

2.  How  is  this  "  fitness  "  to  be  ascertained  ?  Just  as  all 
other  truth  is  to  be  known,  —  by  seeking  for  it,  —  through 
the  use  of  our  perceptive  and  rational  powers.  He  who 
seeks  will  find,  provided  he  searches  in  the  love  of 

the  meaning  of  virtue  ?  Is  it  virtuous  to  do  what  one  likes!  Where  does 
Temperance  begin  ?  What  is  implied  in  the  state  of  Temperance  ?  How  are 
the  Desires  and  the  Will  related  ?  What  is  the  sole  test  of  the  rightness  of 
actions  ? 

2.  How  is  the  fitness  of  things  to  be  known?    What  are  such  relations 
called  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  7 

truth  as  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  will,  and  ob 
serves  the  known  conditions  of  sound  reasoning.  Just 
as  a  man  may,  by  carelessness  and  inattention,  add  up  a 
column  of  figures  wrongly,  so  by  carelessness  he  may 
violate  the  laws  of  sound  thinking,  and  form  an  "  opin 
ion,"  instead  of  reaching  a  conclusion;  but  the  faulf 
rests  with  the  man  and  not  with  the  relations  fixed  by 
God,  that  show  forth  his  wisdom  and  power.  The  re 
lations  of  fitness  are  the  laws  which  man  has  to  obey, — 
the  rules  of  his  life,  knowable  by  reason  through  expo 
rience. 

3.  The  practical  conclusion  from  this  examination  is, 
that  while  Temperance,  the  virtue,  is  always  a  state  of 
mind  opposed  to  sensual  gratification,  and  therefore 
founded  upon  the  recognition  of  the  higher  law,  — 
Temperance,  the  right  action,  is  obedience  to  the  intel 
lectual  perception  of  those  relations  of  fitness  among 
things,  which  we  call  the  adaptation  of  right  means  to 
good  ends.  He,  consequently,  who  drinks  or  smokes 
merely  because  he  "likes"  it,  or  because  it  is  pleasant 
or  fashionable,  acts  upon  a  motive  beneath  morality,  and 
therefore  below  Temperance ;  and  he  who  drinks  or 
smokes,  without  any  perception  or  proof  of  the  useful 
ness  of  drinking  or  smoking,  acts  upon  an  impulse  that 
contains  no  element  of  intellectual  law  or  truth.  What 
is  neither  good  in  motive,  sound  in  sense,  nor  useful  in 
result,  can  have  no  title  to  the  sacred  name  of  Temper 
ance.  We  add  the  definitions  of  Temperance  given  by 
several  great  and  philosophical  writers,  some  of  them 
separated  by  centuries  of  time  from  each  other. 

3.  State  the  conclusions  deducible  from  this  line  of  remark.     What  are 
the  three  essential  elements  which  must  be  united  in  Temperance  ? 


8  TEXT-BOOH   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

4.   Socrates  [B.  C.  450]  sa3Ts, — 

"He  who  knows  what  is  good  and  chooses  it,  who  knows 
what  is  bad  and  avoids  it,  is  learned  and  temperate." 

Aristotle,  the  most  scientific  mind  of  antiquity,  says,— 

"  Temperance  is  a  mean  state  on  the  subject  of  pleasures,  — 

bodily  pleasures, —  and  not  all  even  of  these In  the 

natural  desires  few  err,  and  only  on  one  side,  —  that  of  excess, 
the  object  of  our  natural  desire  being  the  satisfaction  of  our  wants. 
But  in  the  case  of  peculiar  [or  artificial]  pleasures,  MANY  people 
err,  and  frequently ;  for  people  who  are  called  '  lovers  '  of  s'uch 
pleasures  are  so  called,  either  from  being  pleased  with  improp 
er  objects,  or  in  an  improper  degree  or  manner,  or  at  an  im 
proper  time.  A  man  is  called  intemperate  for  feeling  more 
pain  than  he  ought,  at  not  obtaining  pleasant  things  [as  wine]  ; 
but  the  temperate  man  is  called  so  from  not  feeling  pain  at  the 
absence  of,  or  the  abstaining  from,  pleasure.  Now  the  intemp 
erate  man  desires  all  things  pleasant,  and  is  led  ly  his  mere 
desire  to  choose  these  things.  But  the  temperate  man  is  in  the 
mean  on  these  matters,  for  he  is  not  pleased,  but  rather  annoyed, 
at  the  principal  pleasures  of  the  intemperate  man ;  nor  is  he 
pleased  with  any  improper  objects,  or  pained  at  their  absence ; 
nor  does  he  feel  desire  when  he  ought  not,  or  in  any  case 
improperly.  But  he  feels  moderate  and  proper  desire  for  all 
those  pleasant  things  WHICH  CONDUCE  TO  HEALTH." 

5.     The  philosopher  Ilobbes  [A.  D.  1G40]  defines  — 

"  Temperance,  the  habit  by  which  we  abstain  from  all  things 
that  tend  to  our  destruction ;  Intemperance,  the  contrary  vico ; 
as  for  the  common  opinion,  that  virtue  consistetji  in  mediocrity,' 
and  vice  in  extremes,  I  see  no  ground  for  it.  Courage  may  be 

4.  What  is  the  moralist  Socrates' definition  ?    How  docs  Aristotle  inliis 
hlCJ,  respectively  define  the  temperate  and  the  intemperate  man  ? 

5.  Give  the  definition  of  Ilobbes,  the  philosopher  oi'Unlmosburr. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  9 

virtue  when  the  daring  is  extreme,  if  the  cause  be  good,  and  ex 
treme  fear  no  vice  when  the  danger  is  extreme.  To  give  a  man 
more  than  his  due  is  no  injustice,  though  it,  be  to  give  him  less. 
In  gifts,  it  is  not  the  sum  that  maketh  liberality,  but  the  reason  • 
and  so  in  all  other  virtues  and  vices." 

6.  "  Most  people,"  says  David  Hume,  "  will  naturally 
assent  to  the  definition  of  the  elegant  and  judicious 
poet,  — 

V  'Virtue  (for  mere  good-nature  is  a  fool) 
Is  sense  and  spirit,  with  humanity.' 

ARMSTRONG. 

"The  prudence  explained  in  Cicero's  Offices  is  tljat 
sagacity  which  leads  to  the  discovery  of  Truth,  and  pre 
serves  us  from  error  and  mistake. 

"  To  sustain  and  to  abstain,  that  is,  to  bs  patient  and 
continent,  appeared  to  some  of  the  ancients  a  summary 
comprehension  of  all  morals. 

"  With  the  Stoics,  as  with  Solomon  and  the  Eastern 
moralists,  folly  and  wisdom  are  equivalent  to  vice  and 
virtue." 

"  Men  will  praise  thee,"  says  David,  4i  when  thou 
doest  wellunto  thyself."  (Ps.  xlix.)  UI  hate  a  wise  man," 
says  a  Greek  proverb,  "  who  is  not  icise  unto  himself." 

7.  Thomas  DeQuincey^,  the  acute  critic,  gives  an  ad 
mirable   definition  from   the  physiological  stand-point, 
namely,  "  Temperance  is  adaptation  to  the  organism  ;  " 
while  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  Brown,  of  Edinburgh,  has  a 


6.  Give  the  historian  and  philosopher  Hume's  definition.     What  does  he 
quote  from  Cicero  ?    Did  the  Ancients  exclude  abstinence  from  their  con- 
ception  of  virtue  ?    What  rule  did  David  and  the  Greeks  lay  down  ? 

7.  What  was  the  objective  definition  of  Mr.  De  Quiucey  ?    What  the  sub 
jective  one  of  Dr.  S.  Drown,  the  chemist  and  reviewer  ? 


10  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

no  less  luminous  and  comprehensive  definition  from  the 
moral  point  of  view,  — 

"True  and  universal  Temperance  is  the  spirit  of  obedience 
to  all  the  laws  of  man's  manifold  and  miraculous  nature." 

8.  It  is  a  plain  inference  from  all  this  that  dietetic 
Temperance  is  the  proper  use  of  food,  which  includes 
as  truly  abstinence  from  bad,  as  the  use  of  good  things  : 
and  hence,  if  alcoholic  liquors  are  bad,  true  Temperance 
teaches,  and  demands,  entire  abstinence  from  them. 


II. 

si0rir  of  Qltsfyol. 

9.  The  intoxicating  constituent  in  strong  drinks  that 
is  specially  objectionable  on  the  ground  of  Temperance 
morals,  is  technically  called  ALCOHOL,  or  Spirit  of  Wine. 
It  is  common  to  ale  and  beer,  to  cider,  perry,  and  other 
fermented  drinks,  and  of  course  to  every  form  of  fer 
mented  wine,  and  of  ardent  spirit  distilled  from  fermented 
liquors.  It  is  a  product  of  fermentation,  an  educt  of 
distillation  ;  in  other  words,  it  must  be  generated  by  the 
one  process,  before  it  can  be  drawn  out,  or  extracted,  by 
the  other.  To  understand  this  fact  in  all  its  fulness,  and 
to  meet  a  large  number  of  difficulties  urged  by  the  igno 
rant,  it  will  be  needful  to  explain  the  general  principles 
of  chemistry,  and  to  show  liow  alcohol  comes  into  being. 

8.  State  the  general  conclusion ;   and  the  proposition  assumed,  which, 
being  established,  will  render  abstinence  a  moral  duty. 

9.  What  is  the  intoxicating  constituent  of  strong  drinks  technically  called  ? 
Is  it  a  product,  or  an  cduct,  of  distillation  ?  By  ich.it  process  is  it  generated  t 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  11 

One  fallacy,  however,  may  be  anticipated,  namely, 
"  Fermentation  is  a  natural  law  or  power."  This  is  quite 
true,  but  it  by  no  means  either  destroys  the  distinction 
between  "  nature  "  and  "  art,"  or  throws  the  responsibility 
from  man  who  uses  natural  power  for  his  own  ends, 
upon  the  Divine  Author  of  it.  All  works,  whether  bad 
or  good,  —  whether  the  manufacture  of  powder,  bullet 
and  pistol,  and  the  discharge  of  them  at  the  head  of  a 
noble  patriot  by  a  foul  assassin,  —  whether  the  moulding 
of  iron  into  ploughshares,  or  the  production  of  gun-cot 
ton  for  the  blasting  of  rocks,  —  are  equally  done  by 
borrowed  power,  expressed  by  natural  law ;  but  the 
character  of  the  work  must  nevertheless  determine  the 
moral  position  of  the  worker,  according  to  the  old  and 
everlasting  test,  "  a  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit." 

10.  A  celebrated  English  bishop  and  botanist,  Dr. 
Stanley,  once  said  in  Exeter  Hall,  by  way  of  objection  to 
the  "  teetotalers "  (i.  e.,  thorough  abstainers  from  all 
alcoholics),  that  "  their  chemistry  was  at  fault,  since  they 
took  sugar,  which  contained  alcohol."  A  lady  wittily 
retorted  with  the  argumentum  ad  episcopum,  — 

"  If  in  sugar,  rum  there  be, 
The  bishop  drinks  it  iu  his  tea ! " 

Clearly,  Saccliarum  is  one  thing,  and  'Rum  another ;  and 
before  it  can  be  truly  alleged  that  the  "  thing  "  rum  is  in 
the  "  thing  "  saccharwm  (as  the  one  word  is  in  the  other), 


Is  fermentation  a  Natural  law  ?  Is  not  all  power  derived,  through  nature,  from 
God?  For  what  is  man  "responsible"?  — is  it  for  the  fact  of  power,  or  the 
use  of  it  ?  Give  examples  of  the  difference  of  use,  as  good  or  bad.  What  is 
the  distinction  between  nature  and  art  ?  What  is  the  final  test  of  good  or 
evil  ? 
10.  What  celebrated  man  asserted  that  alcohol  was  in  sugar?  Does  net 


12  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

it  must  be  extracted  from  the  sugar  while  it  remains  sugar, 
and  this  cannot  be  done.  Certainly  if  it  is  in,  it  will 
come  out;  but  if  it  will  NOT  come  out,  there  is  no  proof 
that  it  is  in.  In  fact,  however,  while  by  the  action  of 
sulphuric  acid,  imitating  the  natural  process  of  the 
growth  of  vegetable  juices  into  sugar,  an  old  linen  shirt 
can  be  changed  into  sugar,  not  the  most  purblind  of 
theorists  would  ever  argue  that,  therefore,  there  is  sugar 
in  linen !  Stated  in  the  plainest  terms,  the  truth  is,  that 
while  the  "matter"  of  all  organic  life  is  very  much  the 
same,  the  forms  of  it  are  forever  varying.  Now  we  have 
the  air,  the  water,  and  the  mineral,  as  the  food  of  plants  ; 
then  we  have  the  infinite  variety  of  vegetable  organism, 
food  and  poison,  built  np  out  of  these  ;  here  the  precious 
wheat,  and  there  the  poisonous  poppy,  flourishing  side 
by  side  in  the  same  field ;  and  then  again  we  have,  fed 
by  grass,  roots,  grain,  and  fruit,  one  flesh  of  birds  and 
beasts,  and  another  flesh  of  man  at  the  head  and  crown 
of  creation.  As  Paul  says,  in  reference  to  plant,  seed, 
and  animal,  though  all  springing  originally  out  of  the 
common  elements  of  the  globe,  "  God  giveth  to  each  a 
body  as  it  pleaseth  Him." — Though  things,  in  infinite 
variety  and  endless  procession  and  circulation,  having  a 
tri-unity  at  bottom,  may  assume  every  form  in  turn,  they 
can  never  be  two  forms  at  the  same  time.  The  thought, 
when  analyzed,  is  seen  to  be  an  absurdity :  for  change  is 
a  fact  of  succession;  and  to  affirm  that  one  change  is 
within  another,  or  is  another,  is  simply  to  talk  nonsense. 

rum  come  from  the  fermentation  of  sugar  ?  If  the  bishop  be  right,  what  is 
the  correct  inference  ?  How  do  you  explain  the  fallacy  ?  Does  alcohol  come 
out  of  sugary  matter?  Explain  the  changes  involved  in  the  chemistry  of 
nature,  and  show  how  variety  springs  from  combination.  What  is  change  1 
Can  cno  change  to  ri  another? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  13 

11.  Professor  Frankland,  of  the  Ro}ral  Institution, 
defines  CHEMISTRY  as  "the  science  which  treats  of  the 
atomic  composition  of  bodies,  and  of  those  changes  'which 
result  from  an  alteration  in  the  relative  position  of  their 
atoms."  Substances  are  either  (1.)  simple  bodies,  in 
capable  of  being  resolved  into  more  than  one  kind  of 
matter,  or  (2.)  compound,  separable  into  two  or  more 
distinct  substances.  The  simple  substances,  up  to  the 
present  condition  of  our  knowledge,  are  sixt3T-two,  and 
arc  technically  called  dements.  They  manifest  a  more 
or  less  intense  affinity  (or  attracting  force)  amongst 
themselves,  when  in  contact,  which  induces  aggregation 
of  some,  and  consequent  separation  of  others.  It  is 
through  the  "combination"  of  these  elements,  that  all 
the  infinitely  varied  forms  of  earthly  matter  are  suc 
cessively  brought  about.  This  force  of  chemical  affinity 
has  five  modes  of  action  at  present  known:  (1.)  Direct 
combination  of  substances  with  each  other.  (2.)  Dis 
placement  of  one  element  or  group  of  elements,  by 
another.  (3.)  Mutual  exchange  of  elements.  (4.)  A  re 
arrangement  of  the  constituents  of  a  body.  (5.)  The 
resolution  of  a  compound  into  a  more  simple  compound, 
or  into  its  elements. 

12.  Each  atom  has  its  atomic  weight  or  specific  grav 
ity  (see  table  of  elements),  which  represents,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  1.  The  smallest  proportion  by  weight,  in 
which  it  is  found  to  unite  with,  or  be  thrust  from,  a 


11.  Give  Trofessor  Frankland's  definition  of  the  science  of  Chemistry. 
What  are  the  two  great  classes  of  substances  ?  How  many  simple  substan 
ces  are  known  ?  What  relation  do  they  hold  to  each  other  ?  In  other  words, 
how  do  they  behave?  Arc  they  attached  to  each  other,  and,  so  to  cpeak, 
''given  in  marriage"?  How  many  forms  of  union  and  dissolution,  or  of 
marriage  and  divorce,  do  they  exhibit  ?.  Name  the  five  kinds. 


14  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

compound  ;  the  smallest  weight  of  Hydrogen  so  enter 
ing  or  leaving  a  substance  being  taken  as  unity,  or  the 
standard  to  start  from.  2d.  The  weight  of  the  element 
in  the  solid  state  which  contains  the  same  amount  of 
heat  as  seven-fold  by  weight  of  solid  Lithium  at  the 
same  temperature.  3d.  The  weight  of  the  element  which, 
as  gas  or  vapor,  under  like  conditions  of  heat  and  pres 
sure,  occupies  the  same  volume  as  one  part  by  weight 
of  Hydrogen.  —  Of  course  the  weight  of  a  compound 
substance  is  the  sum  of  the  atomic  weights  of  its  ele 
ments. 

13.  When  atoms  exist  not  combined  with  other  kinds 
of  matter,  they  nevertheless  sometimes  group  themselves 
together  in  pairs,  trios,  quartettes,  etc.,  and  are  then 
termed  elementary  molecules. 

Hence  the  "  molecular-wZitme  "  of  an  element  in  a  state 
of  gas  or  vapor,  must  be  the  same  as  the  molecular-vol 
ume  of  Hydrogen,  under  the  same  conditions,  while  the 
molecular  weight  of  an  element  will  be  generally  found 
to  be  double  or  treble  that  of  its  own  atomic  weight. 
Oxygen,  for  example,  is  both  a  diatomic,  and  (as  ozone) 
a  triatomic-moleculc.  Sulphur  is  also  diatomic  and  hex- 
atomic. 

As  a  rule,  however,  the  molecular  weight  of  a  com 
pound  is  identical  with  its  atomic  weight.  The  molecu 
lar  volume,  or  the  space  filled  by  the  combining  pro 
portions  of  a  compound,  is  equal  to  that  filled  by  two 
combining  proportions  (one  molecule)  of  Hydrogen. 


12.  What  does  an  atomic  weight  represent?    Of  what  is  Hydrogen  th( 
unit?    What  else  measures  specific  gravity? 

13.  What  are  "  elementary  molecules  "?    What  is   "molecular  volume,' 
niul  how  is  it  related  to  "  molecular  weight  "1 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  15 

Hence  the  law,  "  Equal  volumes  of  all  gases  and 
vapors  contain,  at  the  same  temperature  and  pressure, 
an  equal  number  of  molecules."  Under  this  law,  there 
fore,  the  molecules  of  nearly  all  compounds,  however 
great  the  aggregate  volume  of  their  constituents,  have 
one  uniform  volume,  which  is  precisely  the  same  as  that 
of  one  molecule  of  Hydrogen :  Thus,  in  regard  to 
volume,  — 

2  of  Hydrogen  -f-  1  Oxygen,  form  2  of  Steam. 

3  of  Hydrogen  -|-  1  Nitrogen,  form  2  of  Ammonia. 

6  of  Hydrogen  -|-  1  Oxygen  -\-2x Carbon  Vapor,  form 
2  of  Alcohol- Vapor. 

14.  Elements  that  combine  with  each  other  readily,  de 
velop  much  heat,  which  in  fact  measures  intestine  chem 
ical  affinity  or  motion.     Such  elements  are  possessed  of 
widely  different  properties,  and  when  their  compounds 
are  decomposed  by  an  electric  current  (which  is  but 
another  form  of  motion) ,  the  constituents  are  separated 
at  opposite  poles.     Those  that  appear  at  the  positive 
pole  are  called  "  Negative  "  elements  ;  those  that  appear 
at  the  negative  pole,    "Positive"  elements.     (For  an 
other  purpose  and  reason,  the  Negative  are  also  called 
chlorous;  the  Positive,  basylous.)     The  difference,  never 
theless,  is  one  of  degree  only,  since  they  merge  insen 
sibly  into  each  other,  and  both  series  exhibit  a  gradu 
ated  intensity  of  the  two  qualities. 

15.  The  Book  of  Nature  has  in  truth  its  natural  Al- 


14.  What  is  the  effect  of  rapid  combination  of  elements?    What  results 
from  their  separation  by  an  electric  current  ? 

15.  To  what  may  the  62  primitive  elements  be  compared  ?    What  is  the 
result  of  their  varied  combination  ?    Name  the  21  elements  most  essential 
to  Hie,  man,  and  civilization. 


1G 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


phabet,  out  of  which  its  simple  syllables,  and  its  varied 
and  distinct  words,  its  atmospheres  and  fluids,  its  earths 
and  minerals,  and  its  living  and  illuminated  chapters  of 
the  vegetal  and  animal  kingdoms,  are  all  elaborated 
by  a  process  of  progressive  combination,  —  a  process 
whereby  its  G2  primitive  elements  are  put  together  in 
different  quantities  and  different  ways,  resulting  in  an 
ever  increasing  number  and  complexity  of  compounds. 
The  following  is  the  Primer  of  this  Natural  language. 
The  21  most  necessary  and  important  of  these  elements 
are  put  in  large  type,  the  next  in  importance  in  italics, 
and  those  rarely  found  in  Roman  type  :  — 


NAME. 

Symbol. 

Weight. 

NAME. 

Symbol. 

Atomic 
Weight. 

AlUMINlUM  

Al. 

27.5 

Mo. 

92 

Sb 

i->»> 

Nickel 

Ni 

58  8 

As. 

75 

Niobium  

Nb. 

t'7.G 

137 

NITROGEN  

N. 

14 

Ui 

208 

Os. 

B. 

11 

OXYGEN  

O. 

16 

DROMIXE 

80 

I'd 

10(55 

Ccl. 

PHOSPHORUS     . 

p. 

Cs 

133 

Pt. 

197  4 

CALCIUM     

Ca. 

40 

POTASSIUM  

K. 

C  v  RI5OX 

Q 

11  h. 

109 

Cc. 

ij-t 

Kb. 

85.5 

CHLORINE        .... 

Cl 

35.5 

Ku. 

104 

Chromium  
Cobalt  

Cr. 

C'o. 

5-2.5 

58.8 

Selenium  
SILICON  

Se. 
Si. 

79 
28.5 

COPPER  

Cu. 

03.5 

ya 

SILVER  
SODIUM  

Ag. 
ha 

108 
23 

FLUORINE  

F. 

ID 

Strontium  

ST. 

87.5 

14 

SULPHUR  

s. 

II  YDROGl'  X 

Au. 

14X5.7 
1 

Tantalum  

Ta. 
Te 

137.5 

In 

Thallium  

Tl. 

204 

IODINE 

j 

1'27 

Th 

198 

Tin 

Sn 

118 

i  r  o  \ 

Fe 

50 

Ti. 

50 

La 

L  K  \  D  

Pb 

207 

U. 

1"0 

I  it'ii'im 

7 

v 

137 

Afrr 

Yttrium 

Y 

OS 

V  \'\('  4NESE* 

Jill 

55 

Zn. 

(')•> 

MERCURY 

Ilrr 

200 

Zr 

00 

TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEKAXCE.  17 

1G.  Tbeso  elements  are  arranged  in  two  great  classes,* 
—  Metals  and  Non-Metals  (or  metalloids).  The  latter 
arc  13  in  number,  —  Boron,  Bromine,  Carbon,  Chlorine, 
Fluorine,  Hydrogen,  Iodine,  Nitrogen,  Oxygen,  Phos 
phorus,  Selenium,  Silicon,  and  Sulphur.  Eight  of  these 
elements  are  Negative  or  Chlorous  toward  the  other  54 
Positive  or  Basylous  ones,  —  namely,  Fluorine,  Chlo 
rine,  Bromine,  Iodine,  Oxygen,  Sulphur,  Selenium,  Tel 
lurium. 

17.  The  meaning  of  Chemical  Notation  —  a  scientific 
or  precise  system  of  naming  which  tells  the  history  of 
the  combination  —  should  now  be  understood  by  every 
educated  young  man ;  for  without  this  it  is  impossible 
truly  to  explain  the  most  important  problems  in  biology 
or  life.  Let  the  following  points,  then,  be  carefully  borne 
in  mind, — 

(a.)  A  chemical  compound  of  the  first  order  is  called 
"  binary"  because  it  represents  the  union  of  two  ele 
ments  ;  and  the  special  name  is  taken  from  that  of  the 
constituents;  that  of  the  "positive,"  ending  in  tc,  be 
ing  placed  before  that  of  the  "negative"  ending  in 
"idc,"  as,— 

Potassium  united   with    Sulphur   becomes    Potassic 

Sulphide. 

Sodium  united  with  Ox}Tgen  becomes  Sodic  Oxide. 
Silver  united  with  Chlorine  becomes  Argentic  Chloride. 

10.  What  arc  the  two  great  classes  into  which  the  primitive  elements  are 
divided  ?  What  are  the  names  of  the  no?i-metals  2  How  many,  and  which 
of  them,  are  "Negative"  towards  the  more  "  Positive "  elements ?  What 
else  are  the  Negative  ones  called  ?  What  the  Positive  ? 

17.  What  is  Chemical  Notation?  Give  examples  of  a  "binary"  coin- 
pound.  («.)  IJow  are  the  Positive  and  Negative  distinguished  by  the  ending 


18  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

-  (6.)  When  the  same  elements  form  two  compounds, 
in  the  one  containing  the  least  of  the  Negative  cle 
ment  the  name  of  its  Positive  ends  in  "OMS,"  the  ic 
being  reserved  for  the  compound  containing  the  larger 
proportion  of  the  Negative  element. 

(c.)  So  an  acid  which  contains  Oxygen,  its  name  has 
generally  the  terminal  ic  added  to  the  name  of  the  ele 
ment  to  which  the  Ox}~gen  is  united  (or  to  an  abbrevia 
tion),  as, — 

Sulphur  united  with  Oxygen  forms  Sulphuric  Acid. 
Nitrogen  united  with  Oxygen  forms  Nitric  Acid. 
Phosphorus  united  with  Oxygen  forms  Phosphoric  Acid. 

(d.)  But  when  the  same  element  with  Ox3Tgcn  forms 
two  acids,  the  ic  is  added  to  the  name  of  the  acid  con 
taining  the  larger  amount  of  Ox3Tgen,  and  the  ending  ous 
is  adopted  for  the  other. 

(e.)  The  symbols  attached  in  the  table  to  the  pri 
mary  substances,  when  conjoined  in  use,  always  denote 
a  certain  definite  proportion  by  weight  of  each  element. 
IIC1,  for  instance,  not  merely  signifies  a  compound  of 
Hydrogen  and  Chlorine,  but  a  molecule  of  that  compound 
containing  exactly  one  atom  (i.e.,  one  part  by  weight)  of 
Hydrogen,  and  one  atom  (35.5  parts  by  weight)  of  Chlo 
rine.  Hence,  if  the  molecule  of  a  compound  contains 
more  than  one  combining  ratio  of  any  element,  the  for 
mula  expresses  the  fact  by  a  figure  after  and  below  it, 
as  — 


of  their  names  ?  (6.)  In  a  double  compound  how  do  you  mark  which  con 
tains  the  least  of  the  Negative  element  ?  (c.)  What  is  the  terminal  form  of 
an  oxygen  acid  ?  (d.)  What  mark  is  adopted  when  the  same  elements  form 
two  acids?  (e.)  What  do  the  symbols  in  the  table  (par.  15)  denote?  How 


TEXT-BOOK 'OF   TEMPERANCE.  19 

Zincic  Chloride Zn  C12 

Ferric  Chloride Fe2  C16 


(/.)  When  a  large  figure  is  placed  before  the  formula 
of  a  compound,  it  is  designed  to  apply  to  every  symbol  in 
that  formula :  thus  —  33O4H2  denotes  3  molecules  of  the 
compound  SO4H2  (Sulphuric  Acid). 

18.  In  the  case  of  the  Acids  containing  no  Oxygen, 
the  prefixes  sulplio  and  hydro,  for  Sulphur  and  Hydrogen, 
are  respectively  used. 

If  a  binary  compound  contains  Oxygen,  and  forms  an 
acid  when  united  with  water,  or  a  salt  when  added  to 
a  base,  it  is  termed  an  anhydride,  or  anhydrous  acid. 
Thus: 

1  atom  of  C  and  2  atoms  of  O  form  Carbonic  Anhy 

dride. 

2  atoms  of  N  and  3   atoms  of  O  form  Nitrows  Anhy 

dride. 

1  atom  of  S  and  2  atoms  of  O  form  Sulphurous  An 
hydride. 

1  atom  of  S  and  3  atoms  of  O  form  Sulphuric  Anhy 
dride. 

19.  The  systematic  names  have  not  yet  entirely  dis 
placed  the  trivial  names  in  the  following  examples,  — 


is  a  combining  proportion  of  more  than  one  atom  expressed  ?    (/.)  What 
does  a  large  figure  before  the  symbols  denote  ?    Give  an  example. 

18.  What  device  is  adopted  to  express  the  acids  of  Sulphur  and  Hydrogen  ? 
What  is  an  anhydride'}    Give  examples. 

19.  What  are  the  scientific  names  for  Water  ?  for  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen  ? 
for  Hydrochloric  acid?   for  Light  Carburetted  Hydrogen?  for  Ammonia,1 


20  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

llydric  Oxide  for  Water. 

Ilydric  Sulphide  for  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen. 

Ilydric  Chloride  for  Hydrochloric  Acid. 

Ilydric  Carbide  for  Light  Carburetted  Hydrogen. 

Ilydric  Nitride  for  Ammonia. 

Nor  in  several  of  three  classes  of  compounds  called 
Cases,  convertible  into  Salts  by  the  action  of  acids. 
As,  for  example,  in  compounds  of  metals  with  Oxygen, 
where 

Baric  Oxide  is  commonly  known  as  Baryta. 
Calcic  Oxide  is  commonly  known  as  Lime. 
Magncsic  Oxide  is  commonly  known  as  Magnesia. 
Aluminic  Oxide  is  commonly  known  as  Alumina. 

20.  A  second  class  of  compounds  of  Metals  with  liy- 
droxyl  have  their  names  formed  by  changing  the  termi 
nal  Gj'llable  of  the  metal  into  ic  or  ous,  and  "hydroxyl" 
into  hydrate.  Thus  Caesium  and  hydroxyl  become  CJESIC 
hydrate ;  iron  and  hydroxyl,  ferric-hydrate,  (Fe2  HOC). 
Potash  properly  should  be  Potassic-hydrate,  and  Soda, 
Sodic-hydrate.  This  hydroxyl.  Ho,  is  the  root,  or  rad 
ical,  of  Water,  and  the  explanation  is  important.  It 
belongs  to  a  class  of  inorganic  radicals,  which  are  com 
pounds  of  one  or  more  atoms  of  a  poly  ad  element,  of 
icJiich  some  of  its  bonds  are  unsatisfied;  and  is  named 


What  compounds  are  called  bases?  What  is  the  scientific  name  for  Ba 
ryta  ?  Lime  ?  Magnesia  ?  and  Alumina  ?  What  sort  of  compounds  are  these 
called  ? 

'«.'().  Name  a  second  class  of  bases.  What  is  JTydroxyll  What  is  a  "  Rad 
ical1'?  What  is  an  hydrate?  Name  the  third  class  of  bases.  In  what  d» 
their  names  terminate  ?  What  is  the  single  exception  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  21 

monad  (one) ,  dyad  (two) ,  triad  (three) ,  polyad  (many) , 
just  according  to  the  number  of  monad-atoms  wanted  to 
fulfil  its  atomic  attachment.  (See  par.  24.) 

A  third  class  of  bases,  compounds  of  nitrogen,  phos 
phorus,  arsenic,  etc.,  have  their  names  ending  in  ine, 
except  ammonia,  which  keeps  its  vulgar  title. 

21.  If  a  Salt  be  free  from  Oxygen  and  Sulphur,  like 
table-salt  (NaCl),  it    is    termed  a  haloid;   if    it   hold 
Oxygen,  it  is  termed  an  oxysalt;  and  if  that  element  bo 
replaced  by  Sulphur,  a  Sidplw-salt.     They  are  named 
according  to  the  rule  for  binary  compounds  ;  namely, 
Sodic  Chloride,  etc. 

22.  The  OXYSALTS  are  either  normal,  acid,  or  basic. 
In  a  normal  salt  (erroneously  called  "neutral"),  the 
displaceable  hydrogen  of  the  acid  is  all  exchanged  for  an 
equivalent  amount  of  a  metal,  or  of  a  positive  com 
pound  radical.     In  the  following,  the  displaced  and  sub 
stituted  elements  are  put  in  italics,  — 

.fc-4.  •    A   -i         -RT/^   TT     r  Sodic  Nitrate,  WOa  -ZVa, 

JNltriC  Add  .  .  .  rJO- //      <  r,   -,    •     -XT.,  7vA  \    rr  n 

\  Calcic  £s  itrate,(N  03) 2  GV. 

Sulnhuric  Ac'd  ^O  IT  I  Potassic  Sulphate,  SO4  /u, 
lCt'  uU*  U*  \  Calcic  Sulphate,  SO4  Ca". 

23.  In  an  Acid-salt  the  displaceable  hydrogen  of  tho 


21.  What  is  a  Salt  called  when  free  from  oxygen  and  sulphur?    Give  an 
example.    What  is  it  called  when  it  holds  oxygen  ?  What  when  oxygen  is 
replaced  by  sulphur  ? 

22.  Name  the  three  kinds  of  Oxysalts.   What  is  a  normal  salt  ?    What  was 
it  formerly  but  falsely  called?     Give   examples,  on  the  black-board,  of 
Nitric  and  Sulphuric  acid.    Mark  with  a  line  underneath  the  displacealle 
hydrogen  and  the  substituted  metals. 

23.  What  is  an  acid-salt  ?    Give  an  example  on  the  board. 


22  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TE3IPERANCE. 

acid  is  but  partially  exchanged  for  a  metal  or  positive 
compound  radical,  as,  — 

Carbonic  Acid  CO3  II*  .  .  Ilydric  Potassic-Carbonate, 


24.  When  the  number  of  BONDS  —  that  is,  of  affinity  for 
other  elements  —  of  a  metal,  or  compound  positive  radi 
cal,  in  a  Salt,  is  greater  than  the  number  of  atoms  of 
displaceable  hydrogen,  the  compound  is  termed  a  basic 
Salt,  as,  — 

(  Malachite  CO5  H2  Cu"2 
Carbonic  Acid  CO3  H9       <  Blue  Cupric  Carbonate 

t  C2  O8  II2  Cu"a 

These  bonds  are  expressed  by  the  marks  '"  up  to  four, 
by  Roman  numerals  (v.,  etc.)  beyond  ;  but  still  better 
symbolically, 


H' 

or 

Hydrogen 

Zn" 

u 

Zinc 

B" 

(I 

Boron 

C"" 

u 

Carbon 

N* 

(( 

Nitrogen 

s* 

(( 

Sulphur 

21.  What  is  a  basic  salt?  Give  an  example  from  two  compounds  of  Cop- 
^cr  (Cuprum.")  Show  on  the  board  the  signs  of  the  number  of  "  bonds," 
from  one  to  three,  and  from  three  upwards.  Draw  a  diagram  of  these 
"bonds,"  symbolically  expressed  in  six  substances.  What  is  the  inference 
as  to  chemical  reaction  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  23 

It  follows,  from  this  variation  of  attachment  (or  atomic 
power),  that  the  atoms,  and  their  relative  weights,  dis 
play  very  different  values  in  chemical  reactions.  An  atom 
of  Zinc  is  equal,  in  that  respect,  to  two  atoms  of  Hydro 
gen  ;  so  that,  when  Zinc  is  brought  into  contact  with 
Steam  at  a  great  heat,  one  of  Zn  expels  from  the  Steam 
two  of  H,  taking  their  place,  thus,*  — 

OH2  +  Zn  =  OZn  +  II3 

"Water.  Zincic-oxide. 

So,  when  Zincic-oxide  is  in  contact  with  Hydrochloric- 
acid,  and  the  Zinc  is  exchanged  for  Hydrogen,  two 
atoms  of  this  are  found  to  be  necessary  to  replace  the 
one  atom  of  the  zinc,  as, — 

OZn  +       2HC1      =     Zn    C12      +     OH2 

Zincic  oxide.  Hydrochloric-acid.  Zincic  oxide.  Water. 

25.  The  scholar,  having  mastered  the  notation,  will 
begin  to  see  into  the  secret  and  meaning  of  combination. 
A  series  of  fundamental  examples  shall  now  be  given, 
expressed  in  various  ways,  commencing  with  WATER 
(Hydric  oxide) . 

Symbolically  (2)-(o)— (jj)    Formula  QH2 
Molecular  weight  =18.     Molecular  volume  [      ]  1  litre 


25.  What  is  Water  called,  chemically  ?  Give  its  symbol  and  explain  its 
formation.  What  are  its  chief  characteristics?  What  its  actions  and  reac 
tions  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  Water  of  Crystallization  ? 

*  The.  tlricJc  type  is  used  to  show  that  the  element  represented  by  the  first 
symbol  of  a  formula  is  directly  united  with  all  the  active-bonds  of  the  other 
elements  following  upon  the  same  lines.  Thus  SO2  Ho2  shows  that  the 
liexad  atom  of  S  is  in  union  with  the  four  bonds  of  the  two  atoms  of  O  and 
11,  and  with  the  two  bonds  of  the  two  atoms  of  Hydroxyl  (LIo). 


21  .        TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

of  Water-vapor  weighs  9  criths.     Fuses  at  0°.    Boils  at 
100°  Centigrade. 

Water  is  formed  by  the  direct  union  of  Hydrogen  and 
Oxygen.  It  occurs  abundantly  in  nature ;  and  is,  in 
fact,  the  very  blood  of  all  vegetal  life,  the  vehicle  of 
movement  and  transformation  !  It  is  a  secondary  prod- 
net  in  an  incalculable  number  of  chemical  reactions. 
It  acts  on  many  metallic-oxides,  and  converts  them  into 
hydrates.  For  example,  Potassic  oxide  plus  Water, 
becomes  Potassic  hydrate.  It  transforms  anhydrides 
into  acids.  For  example,  — 

PA  +  3OH2  =  2POIIo3 

Phosphoric  anhydride.  Water.  Phosphoric  acid. 

It  unites  also  molecularly  with  many  compounds  as 
Water  of  Crystallization,  as  in  sodic-sulphate  and  alum. 
This  is  a  peculiar  combination,  called  Molecular  union, 
as  distinguished  from  the  atomic,  attended  by  the  split 
ting  up  of  the  atoms,  and  a  change  in  the  active  atom 
icity  of  the  molecules. 

2G.  Water-vapor,  it  is  probable,  is  not  an  assemblage 
of  single  molecules  of  the  compound  OH2,  but  of  very 
complex  groups  of  them,  united  without  lessening  their 
size.  It  is  this  which  adapts  Water  for  the  great  pur 
pose  of  retaining  radiant  heat,  having  a  greater  power 
of  absorption  than  any  other  known  substance ;  and 


20.  What  is  the  probable  state  of  Water- vapor?  What  are  its  uses  in 
respect  to  the  temperature  of  our  globe?  In  what  condition  does  Oxygen 
exist  in  the  air?  State  its  atomic  and  molecular  weights.  How  do  plants 
supply  a  store  of  this  element  ?  What  is  the  allotropic  form  of  Oxygen 
calkd  ?  State  its  property,  and  draw  the  symbols  of  both  states. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEHAXCE.  25 

thus  acting  as  a  blanket  for  the  world,  keeping  its  tem 
perature  up  to  the  living-point.  Without  this  property, 
the  earth  would  become  in  a  few  hours  too  cold  to  live 
upon. 

As  examples  of  the  alteration  or  intensifying  of  prop 
erties  by  union  in  different  positions,  besides  Water,  we 
may  take  the  dyad  element  of  OXYGEN  (O2) .  Its  atomic 
weight  =  16  ;  its  molecular,  therefore,  being  dual,  =  32. 
It  occurs  in  a  free  state  in  the  atmosphere  ;  and  in  most 
minerals,  and  nearly  all  vegetable  and  animal  compounds. 
It  is  given  out  in  nature  abundantly  by  the  decomposi 
tion  of  Carbonic  anhydride,  C02,  by  the  foliage  of 
plants,  the  pores  taking  up  the  Carbon  for  structure, 
leaving  the  Oxygen  to  escape ;  so  that  the  growth  of 
plants  is  a  perpetual  source  of  this  vivifying  gas.  But 
it  exists  in  another  form  (allotropic) ,  as  OZOXE,  O3,  and 
in  that  state  is  strongly  oxidizing,  .rusting  silver  and 
mercury,  and  decomposing  organic  matters,  at  common 
temperatures.  If  O2  is  represented  as  O— O,  Ozone 
may  be  symbolized  as  QP 

27.  Ilydric  peroxide  (or  Hydroxyi)  is  transformed  in 
to  Water  by  the  action  of  nascent  Hydrogen.  It  is  a 
powerful  oxidizing  agent.  Heat  converts  it  into  Water 
and  Oxygen,  thus,  — 

2)OH    = 

Hydroxyi.  Water.       Oxygen. 


27.  Give  the  formula  of  ITydric  peroxide,  and  of  its  decomposition  by  heat. 
What  is  its  potent  property  ? 


26  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMTERAXCE. 

28.  It  can  now  be  understood  how  Alcohol  can  come 
into  existence  as  the  result  of  artificial  combinations,  un- 

.  der  the  power  of  latent  affinities.  Vinous  Alcohol,  in 
fact,  is  one  of  a  tribe  of  ALCOHOLS.  They  have  been 
called  "  hydrated  oxides  "  of  the  basylous  radicals,  but 
erringly,  since  they  contain  no  Water.  They  are  really 
compounds  of  hydroxyl  ivith  the  basylous  organic  radicals  ; 
so  that  each  series  of  radicals  forms  a  corresponding  one 
of  Alcohols.  They  act  upon  and  saturate  acids  (accord 
ing  to  the  number  of  atoms  of  hydroxyl),  forming  ethe 
real  salts.  The  monad  radicals  give  monacid  alcohols  ; 
the  dyad  radicals,  cliacid  alcohols,  etc. 

29.  The  simplest  or  first-born  of  this  family  of  Alco 
hols  is  Methylic  alcohol  (wood-spirit)  derived  from  Marsh- 
gas  by  the  substitution  of  one  atom  of  hydroxyl  (Ho) 
for  one  of  hydrogen,  thus,  — 

CII4  CH3  Ho 

Marsh-gas.  Methylic  alcohol. 

or,  symbolically  expressed,  as  follows,  — 

© 


It  is  also  produced  by  the   destructive  distillation  of 
wood. 


28.  To  what  tribe  of  Organic  Compounds  docs  Vinous  Alcohol  belong? 
What  sort  of  compounds  are  they  ?  What  do  they  form  by  saturating  acids  ? 

iJ9.  Name  the  first-born  of  the  family  of  Alcohols.  Explain  its  derivation 
from  Marsh-gas.  Why  is  it  also  called  Wood-spirit  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  27 

30.  ETHTLIC  ALCOHOL,  or  "Spirit  of  Wine"  has  the 
following  formula  and  properties,  — 

!d  IT 
CH!  Ho  or  EtHo   (i.  e.,  Ethylene  and  Ilydroxyl). 

Molecular  tveight  =  46.  1  litre  of  the  vapor  weighs  23 
criths.  Specific  gravity,  0.792  at  20°  Centigrade.  Boils 
at  78°.  4C. 

(a)  It  is  prepared  from  Ethylene  treated  with  IIC1 
and  KHo,  as  follows,  — 

(  CH2         ,    Hr,  (  CH3 

i  CH2  i  CH2  Cl 

Ethylene.  Hydrochl.  acid.  Ethylic  chloride. 

(Hyclrobromic  or  hj'driodic  acids  would  do  as  well.) 
Next  treat  the  chloride  with  Potassic  hydrate,  and  the 
following  changes  occur,  — 


i       Trrr-.  (  CH3  i 

CH2  Cl     +   KHo  i  CH2  Ho       + 

Ethylic  chloride.       Totassic  hydrate.  Ethylic  alcohol.        Patassk:  chloride. 

(b.)  Ethylic  Alcohol  results  from  the  fermentation  of 
grape  sugar  with  yeast,  at  about  22°  Centigrade. 

C6H]206      =        2C2H5Ho       +      2C02 

Grape  Sugar.  Ethylic  alcohol.  Carbonic  anhydride. 

(c.)  Distilled  with  Chloride  of  Lime,  ethylic  alcohol 


30.  Give  the  formula  of  ETHYLIC  ALCOHOL,  or  "Spirit  of  "Wine." 
State  its  boiling  point  and  specific  gravity,  (a.)  Show  how  if  is  prepared 
for  Ethylene.  (&.)  Give  the  formula  of  its  formation  by  fernvnting  grape 
sugar  with  yeast,  (c.)  What  does  it  form  when  distilled  witV  CJilori(J«  of 
Lime? 


28  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

produces  Chloroform,  which  is  an  anaesthetic  of  the  same 
class,  paralyzing  nervous  functions. 

31.  By  oxidation,  ethylic  alcohol  is  converted  into  (1) 
ALDEHYDE,  and  then  (2)  into  ACETIC  ACID.  Hence, 
whoever  alleges  that,  under  any  circumstances,  whether 
in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  this  alcohol  is  decom 
posed,  there  is  no  scientific  proof  of  the  fact  until  the 
derivatives  (as  they  are  called)  are  demonstrated  to  be 
present  as  the  result.  The  change  will  be  as  follows,  — 


(  CH3  in-          f 

|CH2Ho+   (  \ 

Ethylic  alcohol.  Aldehyde. 

CH3      i    o  -      CHs 
COII  "  COHo 


32.  It  must,  by  this  time,  be  plain  to  the  meanest  capac 
ity,  that  no  blunder  can  be  greater  than  to  rank  Alcohol 
amongst  the  productions  of  Nature.  It  is,  to  all  intents, 
like  the  golden  images  of  the  Ephesian  Shrine,  "  the 
work  of  Art  and  man's  device,"  using  and  abusing  the 
powers  and  possibilities  latent  in  Nature.  This  truth,  of 
course,  has  been  always  known  to  chemists  of  repute, 
and  it  will  be  as  well  to  put  the  fact  upon  record,  show 
ing  how  the  simple  truth  can  be  perceived  where  no 
blinding  prejudice,  or  perverting  appetite,  darkens  the 
understanding. 


31.  What  are  the  resulting  products  of  the  Oxidation  of  Ethylic  Alcohol  ? 
Explain  (1)  the  conversion  of  the  Alcohol  into  aldehyde  and  water,  and  (2) 
the  change  of  aldehyde  into  acetic  acid. 

32.  Is  Alcohol  a  natural  product  ?    Why  not  ?    What  i?  the  argument  of 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  29 

"  The  formation  of  Alcohol,"  said  tho  great  French 
chemist,  A.  F.  Fourcroy,  "  takes  place  at  the  expense  of 
the  destruction  of  a  vegetable  principle :  thus  spirituous 
fermentation  is  a  commencement  of  the  destruction  of 
principles  formed  by  vegetation.  The  acid,  or  acetous, 
fermentation  is  the  second  natural  movement  which  con 
tributes  to  reduce  vegetable  compounds  to  more  simple 
states  of  composition.  Wine,  in  turning  sour,  absorbs 
air ;  so  that  a  certain  portion  of  the  oxygen  of  the 
atmosphere  appears  to  be  necessary  to  the  formation  of 
the  acetous  acid.  Finally,  after  vegetable  liquors,  or 
their  solid  parts  moistened,  have  passed  to  the  acid  state, 
their  decomposition  continuing,  under  favorable  circum 
stances  (namely,  a  warm  temperature,  exposure  to  air, 
and  the  contact  of  water),  leads  them  into  putrefaction, 
which  terminates  in  volatilizing  most  of  the  principles 
under  the  form  of  gas.  Water,  carbonic  acid,  carbonated 
and  even  sulphurated  hydrogen  gas,  volatile  oil  in  vapor, 
and  sometimes  even  azotic  gas  and  ammonia  are 
evolved ;  and  after  this  there  remains  nothing  but  a 
brown  or  black  residuum,  known  by  the  name  of  mould. 
Though  all  the  circumstances  of  putrefaction  are  not  yet 
described,  or  even  known,  we  have  discovered  that  they 
are  confined  to  the  conversion  of  complex  substances  into 
substances  less  compound;  that  nature  restores  to  new 
combinations  the  materials  wThich  she  had  but  lent,  as  it 
were,  to  vegetables  and  animals  ;  and  that  she  thus  ac 
complishes  the  perpetual  circle  of  compositions  and 
decompositions,  which  attests  her  power,  and  clemon- 


Fourcroy  regarding  the  process  of  fermentation  ?    Give  the  testimonies  of 
Count  Chaptal  and  Prof.  Turner. 


30  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

strates  her  fecundity,  while  it  announces  equal  grandeur 
and  simplicity  in  the  course  of  her  operations."  (''Phi 
losophy  of  Chemistry,"  ch.  xii.  1785.) 

"NATURE,"  said  Count  Chaptal,  "  NEVER  FORMS  SPIRIT 
UOUS  LIQUORS  ;  she  rots  the  grape  upon  the  branch,  but  it 
is  ART  which  converts  the  juice  into  [alcoholic]  wine." 
("  L'Art  de  Faire  le  Yin.,"  p.  2.  Paris,  1819.) 

"ALCOHOL,"  said  Dr.  E.  Turner,  "  is  the  intoxicating 
ingredient  of  all  spirituous  and  vinous  liquors.  IT  DOES 

NOT  EXIST  READY  FORMED   IN   PLANTS,  but  is  a  product  of 

the  vinous  fermentation."  ("  Elements  of  Chemistry," 
2d.  ed.  p.  GG4.) 

33.  The  significant  fact  may  here  be  noted  which 
shows  the  chemical  contrast  between  Food  and  Alcohol, 
as  regards  the  way  in  which  their  elements  are  combined. 

"  The  substances,"  says  Liebig,  "  which  constitute 
THE  PRINCIPAL  MASS  of  every  vegetable,  are  compounds 
of  carbon,  with  oxygen  and  hydrogen  in  the  proper  rela 
tive  proportions  for  forming  water.  Woody  fibre,  starch, 
sugar,  and  gum,  for  example,  are  such  compounds  of 
carbon  with  the  elements  of  water.  In  another  class,  the 
proportion  of  oxygen  is  greater  than  would  be  required 
for  producing  water  by  union  with  the  hydrogen.  The 
numerous  organic  acids  met  with  in  plants  belong,  with 
few  exceptions,  to  this  class.  A  third  class  may  be  re 
garded  as  compounds  of  carbon,  with  the  elements  of 
water  and  an  excess  of  hydrogen.  Such  are  the  vola 
tile  and  fixed  oils,  wax,  and  the  resins."  •("  Organic 
Chemistry,"  1843.)  To  this  class  Alcohol  belongs,  in 


33.  In  what  respect  do  Food  and  Poisons  stand  contrasted  ?    Explain  tho 
contrast  by  examples  of  grape  sugar  and  alcohol. 


TEXT-COOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  31 

«rhich  we  have  carbon  2,  hydrogen  G,  oxygen  1.  Eight- 
tenths  of  all  vegetal  food  is  constructed  of  carbon  and 
the  elements  of  water,  whence  the  blandest  properties 
result,  like  water  itself,  — 

"  Honest  water,  too  -weak  to  be  a  sinner." 

On  the  other  hand,  poisons  are  generally  virulent 
in  the  ratio  of  the  disproportion  between  the  II  and  0. 

34.  Alcoholic  liquors  are  known  as  the  result  only  of 
one  process,  operating  upon  one  substance,  —  the  process 
is  FERMENTATION,  the  substance  GRAPE  SUGAR  (glucose). 
By  no  other  process,  upon  any  other  substance,  have 
they  ever  been  produced.*  Hence,  it  follows  that  no 

*  Though  alcoholic  drinks  arc  exclusively  made  by  inducing  the  fermenta 
tion  of  saccharine  substances,  it  should  be  known  that  Flennt-llong  ago,  and 
Berthelot  more  recently,  discovered  a  method  of  making  alcohol  by  synthesis, 
—  that  is,  instead  of  the  method  of  undoing  nature's  work  of  growth  in  fruit 
and  grain,  by  the  conjoint  processes  of  malting  and  fermenting,  they  put  to 
gether  certain  compounds  containing  the  elements  of  alcohol,  when  affinity 
does  all  the  rest.  The  method,  however,  will  probably  always  remain  too 
costly  even  for  the  manufacture  of  pure  alcohol  for  chemical  purposes.  It 
consists  in  subjecting  to  mutual  action,  in  a  closed  retort,  at  common  tem 
peratures,  sulphuric  acid  and  olefiant  gas  (C2  112),  adding  five  or  six  volumes 
of  water.  Sulpho-vinic  acid  results,  and  from  this,  after  repeated  distilla 
tions,  using  a  little  carbonate  of  potash  to  absorb  the  water,  alcohol  distils 
over.  Practically,  then,  the  objection  that  alcoholic  drinks  are  obtained 
only  by  the  decomposition  of  food  cannot  be  evaded. 

It  is  Man  that  transforms  by  art's  chemical  spell 
"  The  sweet  milk  of  the  earth  to  an  essence  of  hell." 
He  fermenteth  the  fruit,  nnd  corrupteth  the  grain, 
To  engender  a  spirit  that  maddens  the  bruin. 

Cowper,  the  Christian  Poet,  who  saw  clearly  the  evils  of  drinking,  and  of 
"  the  styes  that  law  Lath  licensed,"  asks  and  answers  the  pertinent 
question,— 

"  Will  Providence  o'erlcok  the  wasted  good? 
Temperance  were  no  virtue  if  lie  could." 


34.  From  what  substance,  and  by  what  process,  are  alcoholic  liquors  ob- 


32  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

compound-substance  in  the  universe,  not  excepting  sugar 
itself,  can  possibly  contain  alcohol  prior  to,  or  indepen 
dent  of,  that  process  on  which  its  genesis  depends. 
Neither,  as  we  have  seen,  can  this  process  take  place  in 
any  living  organism,  plant  or  animal,  nor  even  in  lifeless 
substances,  unless  certain  conditions  exist  which  con 
spire  to  produce  it. 

Glucose  consists  of  the  following  elements  :  C6 II12  Oc, 
according  to  the  new  system,  with  Hydrogen  for  unity  ; 
but  the  older  chemists,  now  to  be  cited,  have  the  formula 
Of  Cu  H12  O12. 

35.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  vinous  fermentation 
which  generates  Ethylic  Alcohol  ?  The  following  from 
Turner's  Chemistry  will  answer  fulty,  — 

"  This  name  is  given  to  the  peculiar  decomposition 
which  the  different  species  of  sugar  undergo  in  certain 
circumstances;  and  by  which  their  elements  combine  to 
form  new  compounds,  which,  under  similar  conditions, 
are  always  the  same.  "When  a  saccharine  solution  is 
placed  in  contact  with  substances  in  a  state  of  decompo 
sition  or  putrefaction,  it  is  observed  after  about  twent}'- 
four  hours,  if  the  temperature  be  kept  between  38°  and 
86°  F.,  that  thetaste  of  the  sugar  has  disappeared;  pure 
carbonic  acid  is  disengaged,  and  the  liquid  has  acquired 
intoxicating  properties.  It  now  contains  alcohol,  which 
may  be  separated  by  distillation.  If  we  compare  the 
composition  and  quantity  of  these  products  with  that  of" 


tained  ?    Give  the  new  and  old  formula  of  glucose.    Is  alcohol  producible  by 
synthesis?    (Note.) 

35.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  process  operated  on  grape  sugar  which  gives 
rise  to  Alcohol  ?    How  does  Licbig  deiine  Fermentation,  etc.  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  33 

the  sugar  employed,  we  shall  find  them  to  contain  the 
same  weight  of  carbon." 

Baron  Liebig,  in  a  later  work,  thus  defines  the  pro 
cesses,  — 

u  FERMENT ATIOW,  PUTREFACTION,  and  DECAY. — These 
are  processes  of  decomposition,  and  their  ultimate  results 
are  to  reconvert  the  elements  of  organic  bodies  into  that 
state  in  which  they  exist  before  they  participate  in  the 
processes  of  Life,  [whereby]  complex  ORGANIC  ATOMS  of 
the  highest  order  are  REDUCED  into  combinations  of  a 
lower  order,  into  that  state  of  combination  of  Elements 
from  which  they  sprang."  (u  Letters  on  Chemistry,"  2d 
series,  pp.  127-9.) 

36.  Turner's  Chemistry,  edited  by  Liebig,  goes  into 
particulars,  — 

"  Fermentation  is  nothing  else  but  the  putrefaction  of  a 
substance  containing  no  nitrogen.  It  is  excited  by  the 
contact  of  all  bodies,  the  elements  of  which  are  in  a 
state  of  active  decomposition.  In  nitrogenized  sub 
stances  of  a  very  complex  constitution,  putrefaction  (or 
fermentation)  is  spontaneously  established  when  water 
is  present,  and  when  the  temperature  is  sufficiently  high, 
and  it  continues  till  the  original  compounds  are  wholly 
destroyed.*  Substances  containing  no  nitrogen,  on  the 
contrary,  require,  in  order  to  their  undergoing  this  meta 
morphosis,  the  presence  of  a  nitrogenized  substance 
already  in  a  state  of  putrefaction  (fermentation).  The 

*nence  the  error  talked  some  years  ago,  about  "  inceptive  fermentation." 


?.0.  What  is  the  difference  between  Fermentation  nnd  Putrefaction  ?    How 
long  will  Fermentation  go  on  if  not  artificially  arrested  ? 
3 


34  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

substances  which  best  promote  the  change  are  gliadine, 
gluten,  vegetable  albumen,  in  short,  all  substances  in  a 
state  of  spontaneous  decomposition,  to  which  the  general 
name  of  ferment  is  given.  Putrefying  animal  substances 
are  equally  capable  of  exciting  the  same  action  [as  in 
the  Lamb  wine  of  the  Chinese]. 

37.  "  Ferment,  or  yeast,  is  a  substance  in  a  state  of 
putrefaction,  the  atoms  of  which  are  in  a  continual 
motion.*  This  motion,  or  conflict  of  the  elements,  com 
municating  itself  to  the  sugar,  destroys  the  equilibrium 
of  its  atoms.  These  no  longer  retain  the  same  arrange 
ment,  and  group  themselves  according  to  their  special 
attractions.  The  carbon  of  the  sugar  is  divided  between 
the  hydrogen  and  the  oxygen  ;  there  is  formed,  on  the 
one  hand,  a  carbonized  compound,  containing  almost  all 
the  oxygen  (carbonic  acid)  ;  and,  on  the  other,  a  second 
carbonized  compound,  containing  all  the  hydrogen 
(alcohol)  . 

"It  is  highly  probable  that  cane  sugar,  before  it  under 
goes  the  vinous  fermentation,  is  converted  into  grape 
sugar  by  contact  with  the  ferment  ;  and  that,  conse- 
quentty,  it  is  grape  sugar  alone  which  yields  alcohol  and 
carbonic 


*This  explains  why  ferment  and  fermented  substances  were  prohibited  in 
the  typical  and  symbolical  institutions  of  the  Jews,  and  were  applied  to 
bread,  as  well  as  wine  and  honey. 

t  "  Whatever  denomination  of  sugar  you  start  with,  it  becomes  grape 
sugar  ;  this  is  the  preliminary  step.  This  grape  sugar  then  suffers  dismem 
berment,  and  is  resolved  into  carbonic  acid  and  into  alcohol."  —  Professor 
Brande  (Lectures,  "  Medical  Times,"  vii.  p.  179). 


37.  What  is  Yeast  ?  What  does  it  do  on  the  atoms  of  sugar  ?  Is  there 
such  a  thing  as  "  inceptive  fermentation,"  or  does  the  process,  once  begun, 
go  on  continuous! yl  What  is  the  observation  of  Prof.  Brande  concerning 
grape  juice? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE .  35 

"  In  the  fermentation  of  vegetable  juices  containing 
sugar,  it  appears  that  the  elements  of  certain  other  prin 
ciples  therein  dissolved  take  an  essential  part  in  the  for 
mation  of  the  new  products  occasioned  by  the  action  of 
the  air  on  the  juice  of  the  grape,  of  fruits,  and  of  other 
plants. 

"  The  nitrogenized  matters  in  solution,  such  as  gluten, 
gliadine,  vegetable  albumen,  etc.,  are  spontaneously  de 
composed  ;  and  it  is  then  that  the  decomposition  of  the 
sugar  is  commenced,  and  continues  alone  till  the  sugar 
has  entirely  disappeared.  Wlien  the  juice  Jias  once 
begun  to  ferment,  it  may  be  preserved  from  the  contact 
of  the  atmosphere  without  the  action  being  thereby  ar 
rested.*  The  nitrogenized  [nourishing]  matters  of  the 
juice  are  constantly  precipitated  in  the  shape  of  ferment,  or 
yeast;  and  in  the  fermented  liquors,  besides  alcohol, 
there  are  found  other  substances,  such  as  oznanthic  ether, 
oil  of  potato,  oil  of  grain,  etc.,  the  presence  of  which 
could  not  be  detected  previous  to  fermentation." 

38.  In  the  light  of  these  explanations,  the  notion 
that  Alcohol  is  in  Sugar  or  in  Grapes,  or  that  nature  has 
adapted  her  arrangements  to  the  production  of  Alcohol, 
must  appear  simply  absurd.  Against  the  first  of  these 

*  "  The  ferment  may  exist  and  lie  dormant  till  the  presence,  of  oxygen  ren 
ders  it  active,  and  capable  of  communicating  its  activity  to  other  bodies.  If, 
for  instance,  I  express  the  juice  of  grapes,  cautiously  avoiding  the  contact 
of  air  or  oxygen,  the  grape  juice  remains  unchanged,  though  the  azotized 
ferment  is  contained  in  it ;  but  throw  up  a  little  oxygen  into  the  juice  —  a 
bubble  is  sufficient  —  and  now  the  ferment  begins  to  change,  and  has  become 
capable  of  inducing  a  new  arrangement  of  the  elements  of  sugar."  —  Prof. 
Brande. 


38.  Is  Alcohol  in  Sugar?    Give  the  reasons  of  Prof.  Lifbig. 


36  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

objections,  however,  we  may  place  the  following  pas 
sage  from  the  "Organic  Chemistry  "  of  Baron  Licbig 
(1843)  — 

"  FERMENTATION  OF  SUGAR.  —  The  peculiar  decompo 
sition  which  sugar  suffers  may  be  viewed  as  a  type  of 
all  the  transformations  designated  fermentation.  The 
anatysis  of  sugar  from  the  cane  proves  that  it  contains  the 
ELEMENTS  of  carbonic  acid  and  alcohol,  minus  1  atom  of 
water.  The  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid  produced  by  the 
fermentation  of  a  certain  quantity  of  sugar  contain  to 
gether  1  equivalent  of  oxygen,  and  1  equivalent  of  hy 
drogen  more  than  the  sugar  contained.  It  is  known  that 
1  atom  of  sugar  contains  12  equivalents  of  carbon,  both 
from  the  proportions  in  which  it  unites  with  bases,  and 
from  the  composition  of  saccharic  acid,  the  prod 
uct  of  its  oxidation.  Now,  none  of  these  atoms  of  carbon 
are  contained  in  the  sugar  as  carbonic  acid,  because 
the  ivhole  quantity  is  obtained  as  oxalic  acid,  when  sugar 
is  treated  with  hyper-manganate  of  potash ;  and  as 
oxalic  acid  is  a  lower  degree  of  the  oxidation  of  carbon 
than  carbonic  acid,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  the 
lower  degree  should  be  produced  from  the  higher,  by 
means  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  agents  of  oxidation 
which  we  possess. 

"  It  can  be  also  proved,  that  the  hydrogen  of  the  sugar 
does  not  exist  in  it  in  the  form  of  alcohol,  for  it  is  con 
verted  into  water  and  a  kind  of  carbonaceous  matter 
when  treated  with  acids,  particularly  with  such  as  con 
tain  no  oxygen ;  and  this  manner  of  decomposition  is 
never  suffered  by  a  compound  of  alcohol.  SUGAR, 
therefore,  CONTAINS  NEITHER  ALCOHOL  NOR  CARBONIC  ACID, 
so  that  these  bodies  must  be  produced  by  a  different 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  37 

arrangement  of  its  atoms,  and  by  their  union  with  the 
elements  of  water." 

39.  An  American  serial  having,  in  1847,  given  cur 
rency  to  some  erroneous  views  regarding  the  sudden 
production  of  alcohol  in  newly  expressed  grape  juice,* 
we  induced  an  esteemed  friend  and  careful  analyst,  to 
institute  a  number  of  experiments,  and  now  republish 
his  "  Report,"  with  an  advertisement  prefixed,  that  ap 
peared  for  several  years  in  the  papers,  — 

EXPERIMENTS    OF   AN   ENGLISH   CHEMIST. 

"  The  Committee  of  the  British  Temperance  Asso 
ciation  having  received,  from  Dr.  Lees,  the  detail  of 
the  following  experiments  conducted  by  a  practical 
chemist,  in  the  presence  of  competent  witnesses,  are 
prepared  to  offer  a  premium  of  £50  to  any  person  who 
will  extract  any  appreciable  quantity  of  Alcohol  from 
grapes,  ripe  or  otherwise,  provided  the  fruit  has  not  in 
any  way  been  meddled  with  by  art;  they  believing  that 
the  intervention  of  man  is  necessary  to  the  placing  of 
fruit  in  a  condition  such  as  will  permit  of  the  vinous 
fermentation."  After  twenty  years'  lapse  of  time,  these 
experiments  remain  unrefnted. 

"Dr.  Pereira  ("Elements  of  Materia  Medica ") 
of  the  Manufacture  of  Wine,  says,  — 

*As  Liebig  says,  "  Vegetable  juices  in  general  become  turbid  when  in 
contact  loith  the  air,  BEFOHE  FEKMENTATION  COMMENCES."  —  (Chemistry 
of  Agriculture,  3d  Ed.) 


",9.  Do  sound  or  even  roiling  Grapes  contain  Alcohol  ?    Give  the  experi 
ments  of  ix  British  Chemist  in  the  negative. 


38  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

"  *  Grape  juice  does  not  ferment  in  the  grape  itself. 
This  is  owing,  not  [solely]  as  Fabroni  ("  de  1'Art  faire  le 
Vin ;"  Paris,  1801)  supposed,  to  the  gluten  being  con 
tained  in  distinct  cells  to  those  in  which  the  saccharine 
juice  is  lodged,  but  to  the  exclusion  of  atmospheric  oxy 
gen,  the  contact  of  which,  as  Gay  Lussac  ("Ann.  de 
Chim."  Ixxvi.  245)  has  shown,  is  necessary  to  effect  some 
change  in  the  gluten  ;  wThereby  it  is  enabled  to  set  up  the 
process  of  fermentation.  The  expressed  juice  of  the 
grape,  called  must  (mustum),  readily  undergoes  the 
vinous  fermentation  when  subjected  to  the  temperature 
of  between  60°  and  80°  F.' 

"Here  we  find  two  celebrated  philosophers,  natives 
of  wine  countries,  quoted  as  knowing  that  grape  juice 
does  not  ferment  in  the  grape  itself ;  and  how  each  at 
tempted  to  account  for  the  fact.  Yet  now,  after  a  lapse 
of  forty  years,  we  hear  the  assertion  (from  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  indeed)  that  alcohol  is  contained  in 
ripe  grapes,  whole  or  bruised  !  It  may  be  asked,  reason 
ably  we  think,  tvhat  new  evidence  these  new- world  lumi 
naries  have  to  adduce  ;  for,  after  it  has  been  ascertained 
that  a  certain  sort  of  decomposition  in  a  certain  sub 
stance  cannot  take  place,  we  are  entitled  to  remain  in 
credulous  till  doomsday,  or  until  proof  shall  be  pro 
duced  that  nature's  laws  no  longer  continue  the  same  as 
formerly.  Nevertheless,  we  have  been  willing  to  make 
a  few  experiments,  in  order  to  see,  with  our  own  eyes, 
whether  the  old  truths,  or  the  new  assertions,  best  agree 
with  the  laws  of  nature. 

"  (I.)  One  pound  of  fully  ripe  grapes  (Black  Ham 
burg)  were  put  into  a  glass  retort,  with  half  a  pint  of 
water,  and  distilled  very  slowly  until  three  fluid 'ounces 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  39 


had  passed  into  the  receiver.  This  product  hafl  no  alco 
holic  smell.  It  was  put  into  a  small  glass  retort,  with 
an  ounce  of  fused  chloride  of  calcium,  and  distilled  very 
slowly  till  a  quarter  fluid  ounce  was  drawn  ;  this  second 
educt  had  no  smell  of  alcohol,  nor  was  it  in  the  slightest 
degree  inflammable. 

u  (II.)  A  flask  was  filled  with  grapes,  none  of  which 
had  been  deprived  of  the  stalks,  and  it  was  then 
inverted  in  mercury. 

"  (III.)  Another  flask  was  filled  with  grapes  from 
which  the  stalks  had  been  pulled,  and  many  of  which 
were  otherwise  bruised  :  this  flask  was  also  inverted  ia 
mercury. 

The  flasks  were  placed,  for  five  days,  in  a  room  of  tho 
average  temperature  of  about  70°  Fall.  In  the  perfect 
grapes  no  change  was  perceivable.  In  the  bruised 
grapes  putrefaction  had  proceeded  to  an  extent,  in  each 
grape,  proportionate  to  the  degree  of  injury  it  had  sus 
tained  ;  the  sound  parts  of  each  continuing  unchanged. 

"  (IV.)  The  grapes  were  now  removed  from  the  flasks, 
and  the  juice  expressed  from  each. 

"  The  juice  from  the  bruised  grapes  had,  not  an  alco 
holic,  but  a  putrescent  flavor.  Dr.  A.  T.  Thompson 
("  Dispensatory,"  p.  G44)  says  "that  in  wine  countries, 
before  the  grapes  are  subjected  to  the  press,  the  sound 
are  separated  from  the  unsound  with  great  care,"  —  evi 
dently  to  prevent  this  putrid  flavor  in  the  wine.  The 
juice  from  the  sound  grapes  was  perfectly  sweet. 

"  Both  these  juices  were  placed  in  lightly  corked 
phials,  half-filled,  and  subjected  to  a  proper  fermenting 
temperature.  It  was  THREE  DAYS  before  the  commence 
ment  of  fermentation,  in  each,  was  indicated  by  the 


40  TEXT-BOOK   OP   TEMPERANCE. 

evolution  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  as  also  by  the  odor  of 
the  alcohol,  and  of  the  aromatic  oils  always  generated 
in  such  cases. 

"  I  therefore  still  believe  it  to  be  A  FACT,  that  grapes 
do  not  produce  alcohol ;  that  it  can  result  only  where 
the  juice  has  been  expressed  from  them,  and  then  not 
suddenly;  and  that,  where  the  hand  of  man  interferes 
not,  alcohol  is  never  formed. 

"  JOSEPH  SPENCE, 
"  Chemist  to  the  Yorkshire  Agricultural  Society. 

"  9th  Mo.,  1847." 

40.  The  physical  and  social  effects  of  drinking  alco 
hol  i?i  wine,  and  alcohol  distilled  from  wine,  are  every 
where  the  same,  differing  only  in  degree.  Both  engen 
der,  according  to  their  strength,  the  terrible  and  debasing 
appetite  for  themselves  which  it  is  the  object  of  Tem 
perance  Societies  to  suppress.  Yet,  such  is  the  force  of 
prejudice,  that  an  old  theory  is  revived  by  Prof.  Kra- 
nichfeld,  of  Berlin,  that  alcohol  in  wine  is  not  alcohol,  but 
the  vinous  principle  !  —  a  theory  which  had  been  exploded 
by  GayLussac  above  thirty  years  before,  as  well  as  by 
Prof.  Brande.  (See  " Philosophical  Transactions"  for 
1811-13.)  After  the  celebrated  Berzelius  had  pro 
nounced  the  Berlin  experiments  to  be  inadequate,  they 
were  held,  it  seems,  rather  with  hope  than  confidence  ; 
for,  at  a  general  assembly  of  Deputies  of  the  German 


40.  Is  there  any  material  difference  in  the  physical  and  social  effects  of 
drinking  wineand  spirits  respectively  ?  Do  they  nol  both  produce  criminals, 
drunkards,  and  madmen  ?  Is  Alcohol  in  wine  diTereut  from  Alcohol  dis 
tilled  out! 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE .  41 

Temperance  Societies,  held  in  Hamburgh,  August,  1813, 
Dr.  Kranichfeld  proposed,  "A  prize  of  two  or  three 
hundred  louis  d'or,  to  award  to  the  solution  of  this 
question,  — 

"  Is  the  animating  principle  in  spirituous  liquids  be 
fore  the  distilling  (or  any  other  chemical  operation)  of 
the  very  same  kind  and  quality  as  after ;  or  is  it  after 
such  process  different  from  before ;  and  what  are  —  if 
the  latter  is  the  case  —  the  medical,  physical,  and  chem 
ical  qualities  and  effects  of  the  one  as  well  as  of  the 
other  ?" 

41.  There  is  nothing  whatever  in  the  experiments  con 
trary  to  the  accredited  doctrine  of  chemists.  On  testing 
wine,  "  the  first  portions  which  distil  contain  water,  and 
are  followed  by  absolute  alcohol ; "  and  this  impure 
compound,  consisting  of  alcohol,  united  with  the  cenantJtic 
acid  and  the  volatile  oils  which  pass  over  before  the  end 
of  the  process,  is  what  Dr.  Kranichfeld  calls  the  "  vinous 
principle  "  /  Considering  it  as  a  collection  of  principles, 
is  it  any  wonder  that  it  should  not  burn,  taste,  and 
smell  exactly  like  absolute  alcohol  ?  But  when  it  was  ex 
posed  to  a  second  distillation,  and  to  a  higher  degree  of 
heat,  which  separated  the  water  and  heterogeneous 
principles,  it  then  appeared  as  undisguised  alcohol.  All 
this  accords  with  the  established  theory ;  it  does  not  in 
the  least  contradict  it. 

Professor  Brande,  in  a  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institu 
tion,  thus  satisfactorily  disposes  of  the  doctrine  under 
discussion,  — 


41.  State  the  error  of  Dr.  Kranichfeld,  and  give  Prof.  Erande's  answer  to 
it. 


42  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

"  Some  chemists  have  suggested  the  probability  of 
the  non-existence  of  ready  formed  alcohol  in  wine,  and 
have  supposed  that  the  alcohol  is  generated  by  the  action 
of  heat,  and  is  altogether  a  product  of  distillation.  But, 
inasmuch  as  I  can  obtain  the  same  quantity  of  alcohol 
by  distilling  wines  at  very  low  as  at  very  high  tempera 
tures,  and  as  I  can  get  the  full  complement  of  alcohol 
from  the  stronger  wines  by  the  action  of  carbonate  of 
potash^  which  abstracts  water  and  separates  alcohol 
without  any  distillation  or  any  other  interference  of 
heat,  we  must  not  allow  those  who  indulge  in  wine  to 

«' '  Lay  this  flattering  unction  to  their  souls,' 

or  to  use  any  such  argument  in  opposition  to  the  teeto- 
talists."     ("  Medical  Times,"  viii.  p.  180,  1843.) 

42.  Wines,  Ales,  Beers,  Porters,  and  other  fermented 
liquors,  such  as  Cider  and  Perry,  differ  from  distilled 
spirits  only  in  this,  that  the  latter  have  more  thoroughly 
got  rid  of  the  small  remains  of  the  original  substances 
from  which  they  were  made,  whether  grain,  fruit,  or 
fruit  juices.  Under  the  u  Physiology  of  Diet,"  we  shall 
supply  TABLES  indicating  the  true  facts  in  relation  to 
various  drinks ;  but  for  all  essential  purposes  of  the 
present  argument  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  intoxicating 
liquors  are,  in  the  main,  but  Alcohol  and  Water,  more 
or  less  strong,  and  injurious  in  proportion  to  the  quan 
tity  of  the  alcohol  contained  in  them.  Adulteration, 
no  doubt,  is  very  extensively  practised  ;  but,  so  far  as 


42.  What  is  the  common  character  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  relation  to 
Temperance  ?  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  brewer  ?  "What  Bays  Dr.  Druitt  ? 
(Note.) 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  43 

Temperance  is  concerned,  it  may  be  stated  as  a  rule 
that  no  other  drag  is  worse  than  alcohol.  The  purpose 
of  the  brewer  (whether  of  wine,  ale,  or  cider)  is  not  to 
make  a  u  nourishing  "  beverage  ;  and  every  pretence  of 
the  kind  is,  therefore,  an  impudent  imposition  upon  pub 
lic  ignorance  and  credulity.  The  object  of  the  brewer 
is  to  dear  the  liquor  of  the  natural  gluten  or  albumen 
dissolved  in  malt  wort,  apple  juice,  or  wine  must,  chang 
ing  that  precious  element  of  nutrition  into  yeast  (or 
barm  as  it  sometimes  is  called),  and  to  convert  the 
valuable  sugar  into  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid.  The 
chief,  if  not  the  sole,  end  of  all  the  elaborate  processes 
of  artificial  fermentation  is  the  production  of  an  intoxi 
cant,  and  the  destruction  of  the  nitrogenous  or  blood- 
forming  elements  of  food.*  Whatever  salts  or  acids  of 
alleged  value,  medically  or  dietetically,  may  remain 
after  the  process  of  "clearing"  is  over,  were  contained 
in  far  greater  measure  in  the  original  cereal  or  fruit  from 
which  the  drink  was  made. 

43.  In  order  to  exhibit  the  complete  contrast  between 
the  "  fruit  of  the  vine"  and  the  various  products  of  its 
fermentative  or  putrefactive  destruction,  tables  of  their 

*Dr.  Druitt  in  his  "  Report  on  "Wines,"  got  up  in  the  interest  of  the  wine 
Importers,  says,  indeed,  that  "  alcohol  is  a  mere  drug,  and  is  not  the  valuable 
element  in  wine."  He  praises  and  puffs  as  the  very  element  of  life,  certain 
volatile  aromas  and  scents !  But  it  must  be  plain  that  wines  that  fetch  high 
prices  exclusively,  or  chiefly,  on  account  of  their  flavor  and  aroma,  are  of  a 
very  limited  range,  accessible  only  to  the  wealthy  connoisseur,  and  quite 
beyond  the  reach  or  appreciation  of  the  general  public;  so  that  such  refined 
evasions  or  apologies,  are  altogether  beyond  the  real  practical  question. 


43.  For  what  diseases  are  grapes  and  grape  juice  prescribed  in  "  Syria  "  and 
in  Switzerland  ?     Why  are  they  good  in  consumption  ? 


44  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

different  compositions  are  subjoined.  But  first  of  their 
"MEDICAL  PROPERTIES  AND  USES.  The  ripe  FRUIT  OF 
THE  VINE  is  cooling  and  antiseptic  ;  and  when  eaten  in 
large  quantities,  diuretic  and  laxative.  Grapes  are  very 
useful  in  febrile  diseases,  particularly  in  bilious  and 
putrid  fevers,  d3Tsentery,  and  all  inflammatory  affections. 
In  Syria,  the  juice  of  ripe  grapes,  inspissated,  is  used  in 
great  quantities  in  these  diseases.  (Russell's  "  Nat.  His. 
of  Aleppo,"  i.  83.)  Grapes  have  been  strongly  recom 
mended  as  an  article  of  common  diet  in  phthisis  (Moore's 
"  View  of  Society  in  Italy,"  ii.  Lett.  62)  ;  and  they  cer 
tainly  contain  much  bland  nutritious  matter,  well  fitted 
for  phthisical  habits."  (Dr.  A.  T.  Thompson,  "  London 
Dispensatory.") 

"In  the  inflammatory  form  of  dyspepsia,  and  in  pul 
monary  affections,  ripe  grapes  are  eaten  in  considerable 
quantities,  in  Switzerland  and  other  parts  of  the  conti 
nent,  occasionally  with  considerable  benefit,  and  forming 
what  is  called  the  cure  de  raisins"  (Dr.  Pereira,  "  Trea 
tise  on  Food,"  p.  355.) 

44.  CONSTITUENTS  OF  "  WINE  IN  THE  CLUSTER." 

1.  Gluten,  a  blood-former,  plentiful. 

2.  Sugar,  in  varying,  but  always  large  amount. 

3.  Gum,   which,    however,   is    chieily  a  mechanical 
lubricant. 

4.  Various  odorous  matters,  or  aromas. 

5-6.  Malic  acid  and  citric  acids  in  small  quantities. 
7-8.  Phosphorus  and  sulphur  in  combination. 
9.  Bitartrate  of  Potash  (Cream  of  Tartar). 


44.  What  are  the  constituents  of  "Wine  in  the  Cluster"?    Name  the 
main  results  of  fermenting  it,  and  the  substances  lost  for  dietetic  ends. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  45 

10.  Tartratc  of  Lime. 

11.  Water,  etc. 

When  these  mingled  elements  are  "  worked,"  the  old 
products  are  in  great  part  destroyed.  The  nourishing 
gluten  putrefies  by  exposure  to  air  and  moisture  ;  "  car 
bonic  acid  and  pure  hydrogen  gas  are  evolved  ;  phosphate, 
acetate,  caseate,  and  lactate  of  ammonia  being  at  the  same 
time  produced  in  such  quantity  that  the  further  decomposi 
tion  of  the  gluten  ceases.  But  when  the  supply  of  water 
is  renewed,  the  decomposition  begins  again,  and  in  ad 
dition  to  the  salts  just  mentioned,  carbonate  of  ammonia 
and  a  white  crystalline  matter  resembling  mica  (caseous 
oxide)  are  formed,  together  with  the  hydro  sulphate  of  am 
monia,  and  a  mucilaginous  substance  coagulable  by  chlo 
rine.  Lactic  acid  is  almost  always  produced  by  the 
putrefaction  of  organic  bodies."  (Liebig,  "Org.  Chem.," 
p.  259.)  As  the  gluten  decays,  and  the  yeast  fungus  is 
developed,  the  Bitartrate  of  Potash,  in  great  part,  settles, 
in  bottle  or  cask,  as  "  crust  of  wine,"  being  insoluble  in 
alcohol,  and  is  thus  lost  as  a  salt  of  the  blood.  When 
the  first  working  is  over,  and  the  wine  is  bottled,  we  find, 
on  opening  it  after  a  few  months,  the  following  constit 
uents,  — 

45.  "  WINE,  THE  MOCKER"  —  or,  "  Old  Red  Port " 

Alcohol,  a  powerful  narcotic. 

CEnanthic  acid  (an  oily,  inodorous  liquid). 

(Enanthic  ether  (of  a  vinous,  unpleasant  smell). 

Essential  or  volatile  oils.* 

*  Nicotine,  a  frightful  poison  (one-fourth  of  a  drop  will  kill  a  rabbit;  one 
drop,  a  dog),  is  one  of  these  essential  oils;  formula,  CloHs  N.    It  is  the  in- 

45.  Enumerate  the  new  constituents  in  "Wine  the  Mocker"?    What 
follows  the  "  Keeping  of  Wine  "  ? 


46  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

Bouquet  or  aroma. 
Acetic  acid. 
Sulphate  of  potash. 
Chlorides  of  potassium  and  sodium. 
Tannin,  and  coloring  matter  from  the  grape  husk. 
Undecomposed  sugar,  gum,  and  extractive  matter,  in 
small  quantities. 

The  substances  in  italics  are  new  compounds. 

After  a  time,  the  alcohol  suffers  a  slow  decomposition, 
and  the  wine  becomes  milder.  This,  probably,  is  owing 
to  the  gradual  conversion  of  part  of  the  alcohol  into 
ethers,  by  union  with  the  different  acids.  But,  on  ex 
posure  to  air,  in  a  proper  temperature,  wine  will  at  once 
enter  into  the  acetous  fermentation,  during  which  the  al 
cohol  quicldy  disappears,  and  is  replaced  by  acetic  acid, 
or  vinegar. 

A  more  complete  contrast  between  the  natural  and  the 
artificial  wine  can  hardly  be  conceived  than  these  analy 
ses  present. 

46.  The  following  (determined  by  Dr.  Bence  Jones) 
is  the  percentage  of  alcohol  contained  in  samples  of  the 
liquors  named,  as  given  by  the  Alcoholometer. 

Port  Wine,      20  to  23.  Rum,  72  to  77. 

Sherry,  15  to  24.  Whiskey,  59. 

toxicating  principle  of  prepared  tobacco,  but  was  not  present  in  the  natu 
ral  leaf.  It  results,  like  alcohol,  from  fermentation ;  several  other  volatile 
oils  are  generated  at  the  same  time. 

40.  Give  the  percentage  of  alcohol  in  eight  of  the  most  celebrated  Wines  ? 
Also  of  Spirits  and  fermented  liquors? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  47 

Madeira,  19.  Brandy,                50  to  53. 

Champagne,  14.  Geneva  (Gin),     49. 

Burgundy,  10  to  13.  Bitter  Ale  (new),  6  to  12. 

Rhine  Wine,      9  to  13.  ,        Porter,  6  to  7. 

Claret,                9  to  11.  Stout,  5  to  7. 

Moselle,             8  to  9.  Cider,  5  to  7. 

47.  Alcohol  can  in  no  sense  be  regarded  as  "  a  good 
creature  of  God,"  in  respect  to  diet.  For,  in  the  first 
place,  it  is  not  constructed  like  food,  being  neither  solid 
nor  innocent ;  and,  in  the  second,  whether  good  for  any 
proper  end,  it  is  still  an  artificial,  and  not  a  natural,  prod 
uct.  In  a  strict  and  scientific  sense,  man  can  make 
nothing,  —  he  can  only  modify;  the  ultimate  power  which 
effects  every  change  belongs  exclusively  to  that  all-per 
vading  Spirit  in  whom  we  "  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being."  There  is  nothing  done  or  developed  by  the 
creature,  which  is  not  also  done  ly  the  agency  of  God 
empowering  or  sustaining  it.  In  this  last  case,  however, 
the  result  is  called  Art,  not  Nature.  When  we  speak  of 
the  "  creations  "  of  the  poet  or  the  painter,  we  employ  the 
word  figuratively.  "  Creature,"  therefore,  in  a  strict  sense, 
is  the  minor  relative,  of  which  "  Creator"  is  the  major. 
Hence  "  creature"  must  signify,  in  this  discussion,  either 
some  substance  which  formed  a  part  of  the  original  cre 
ation,  or  which  is  still  produced  in  nature,  independent 
of  human  aid  or  agency  ;  for  vital  and  vegetative  nature 
may  be  viewed  as  a  "  perpetual  creation,"  in  which  the 
types  of  all  original  products,  are  constantly  renewed, 


47.  Is  alcohol,  in  any  sense,  "  a  good  creature  "  ?  Was  it  placed  or  pro 
vided  in  Paradise  ?  Can  such  words  as  creation,  or  growth,  be  fairly  applied 
to  it  ?  Why  not  ? 


48  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

bearing  fruit  after  their  several  kinds.  When  the  origi 
nal  creative  act  was  accomplished  ;  when  the  spirit  of 
God  brooded  over  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  chaos  re 
tired  before  the  reign  of  order ;  when  the  sun  was  fixed, 
and  the  planets  were  appointed  their  courses  in  the 
heavens  ;  when  the  fiat  went  forth,  "  Let  Light  be"  and 
"Light  ivas;  "  when  radiant  heat  cheered  and  quick 
ened  the  fresh  creation,  and  animated  every  living  thing  ; 
when  silence  gave  place  to  praise,  and  the  songs  of 
birds  made  vocal  the  bowers  of  Paradise ;  when  from 
the  rocks  fountains  of  living  water  gushed  forth,  and 
eastward  the  silvery  stream  rolled  on ;  when  "  the 
Morning  Stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  Sons  of  God 
shouted  for  joy  "  at  this  fresh  outbirth  of  creative  power, 
—  is  it  recorded  that  Alcohol  was  there  ? 

48.  If  we  pass  from  the  records  of  Revelation  to  the 
open  and  illuminated  volume  of  Nature,  —  if  we  search 
throughout  the  wide  range  of  vegetative  and  animated 
forms  for  the  presence  of  alcohol,  —  there  is  not  one 
plant  or  flower,  not  one  creature  or  compound,  resulting 
from  the  formative  processes  of  life  and  growth,  in  which 
it  can  possibly  be  detected  or  developed.  Creation, 
growth,  maturity,  —  these  are  terms  which  refer  to  life; 
but  alcohol  has  nothing  to  do  with  life,  except  to  destroy 
it ;  it  is  a  poison  alike  to  plants  and  animals  ;  it  is  the 
outcome  of  vegetable  death  and  decay,  not  of  life,  growth, 
or  creation.  It  is  not  a  creature,  but  the  result  of  the 
death  and  decomposition  of  a  creature.  The  clusters  of 
the  grape  are  but  so  many  natural  air-tight  bottles,  each 


48.  Is  alcohol  found  in  nature?    Does  any  living  cell  secrete  it?  What  is 
the  character  of  a  "  grape  "  berry  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  49 

containing  within  it  an  exquisite  apparatus  for  nourish 
ment  and  preservation,  —  the  only  "fruit  of  the  vine" 
which  nature  "  creates  "  and  "  matures."  But  neither  in 
this  nor  in  any  other  "  fruit  "  have  chemists  ever  de 
tected  the  presence  of  alcohol ;  at  least,  in  the  records 
of  their  multitudinous  experiments  and  analyses,  we  find 
no  memorial  of  the  discovery.* 

49.  But  the  indications  of  Nature's  design  do  not  ter 
minate  here.  Even  when  fermentation  is  established  by 
the  interference  of  Art,  it  still  requires  the  continued  ex 
ertion  of  human  ingenuity  to  secure  the  object  sought. 
The  art  of  the  brewer  and  the  maltster  is,  in  fact,  a  battle 
with  Nature.  The  sweet  juice  of  the  young  grain  is  the 
natural  precursor  of  the  flour  in  the  ripe  one.  Nature 
aims  to  mature  her  fruits,  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  the 
wants  and  laws  of  her  animated  creatures  ;  or,  when  they 
cease  to  be  thus  used,  to  reduce  them  again  to  their  sim 
ple  "  elements."  It  needs  little  reasoning  to  establish 
the  position,  that  neither  immature  nor  decaying  fruits 
were  ever  designed  to  be  the  food  of  man.  Nature  ex 
erts  her  energies  and  processes  in  perfecting  the  gluten 
of  the  barley  ;  this  the  maltster  destroys  and  reconverts 
into  less  compound  elements  ;  Nature,  again,  seeks  rap- 

*  Some  years  ago,  indeed,  a  medical  man  professed  to  have  discovered  a 
small  quantity  in  a  jar  of  gooseberries !  Possibly,  but  then  these  were 
neither  in  their  natural  place,  nor  natural  state :  they  were  decaying  in  arti 
ficial  circumstances,  for  Nature  docs  not  put  her  "fruits"  into  jars  and  cup 
boards.  She  keeps  them  for  weeks  and  months  upon  the  living  tree,  and  so 
long  as  the  skin  bottle  is  unbroken  which  contains  their  pulp,  both  are  pre 
served.  Even  when  her  "  wine  "  is  left  ungathered  (Jer.  xl.  10,  IS),  and  de 
composition  at  last  begins,  nature  still  avoids  the  brewing  process. 


49.  What  are  the  further  indications  of  natural  design  ?    Give  a  summary 
of  Dr.  Shaw's  statement.    Is  alcohol  "the  fruit  of  the  vine  "  ? 
4 


50  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

idly  to  reduce  her  waste  and  decaying  products  to  their 
original  elements,  fitting  them  (as  manure)  for  the  food 
of  vegetables,  when  they  have  ceased  to  be  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  animals  ;  here,  too,  the  brewer  steps  in  and 
thwarts  her  obvious  intentions.  "  WINES,"  says  Dr. 
Shaw,  "  having  once  finished  their  fermentation  as 
wines,  do  not  naturally  stop  there;  but,  unless  prevented 
by  the  care  of  the  operator,  proceed  directly  on  to  vine 
gar  ;  where  again  they  make  no  stop,  but,  unless  prevented 
here  also,  spontaneously  go  on  to  vapidity,  ropiness, 
niouldiness,  and  putrefaction.  To  speak  philosophically, 
the  intention  or  tendency  of  nature  is  to  proceed  from  the 
very  beginning  of  vinous  fermentation,  directly,  in  one 
continued  series,  to  putrcj action;  and  thence  again  to  a 
new  generation ;  which  appears  to  be  the  grand  circle 
wherein  all  natural  things  are  moved,  and  all  the  physi 
cal  or  rather  chemical  phenomena  are  produced."  — 
("Chemical  Lectures;"  London,  1731,  pp.  12G,  127.) 
Alcoholic  wine,  then,  is  no  more  entitled  to  be  called  "  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  "  than  any  of  the  other  contemporaneous 
or  subsequent  products  of  its  decay,  such  as  carbonic 
acid,  vinegar,  yeast,  volatile  oils,  oenanthic  acid,  or  am 
monia.  To  apply  the  phrase  "fruit  of  the  vine  "  to  any 
of  the  substances  resulting  from  its  decay,  is  just  the 
same  absurdity  as  to  call  death  the  fruit  of  life;  and  the 
prevalence  of  this  mode  of  speech  amongst  divines  and 
others  is  a  disgrace  to  our  age  and  country.  It  exhibits 
a  humiliating  extent  of  ignorance  and  confusion  of 
thought.  In  the  hope  of  assisting  to  remove  this  oppro 
brium,  the  author  has  entered  into  more  detail  on  the 
Principles  of  Chemistry  than  he  would,  otherwise,  have 
deemed  needful  in  treating  of  the  genesis  of  alcohol. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  51 

50.  "  It  is  a  very  general  error,"  says  Liebig,  "  to  sup 
pose  that  organic  substances  have  the  power  of  under 
going  change  spontaneously,  without  the  aid  of  an  ex 
ternal  cause.  The  juices  of  the  fruit,  or  other  parts  of  a 
plant  which  very  readily  undergo  decomposition,  retain 
their  properties  unchanged  as  long  as  they  are  protected 
from  immediate  contact  with  the  air ;  that  is,  as  long  as 
the  cells  or  organs  in  tvhich  they  are  contained  resist  the 
influence  of  the  air.  The  beautiful  experiments  of  Gay 
Lussac  upon  the  fermentation  of  the  juice  of  grapes  are 
the  best  proofs  of  the  atmosphere  having  an  influence 
upon  the  changes  of  organic  substances.  The  juice  of 
grapes  which  were  expressed  under  a  receiver  filled  with 
mercury,  so  that  air  was  completely  excluded,  did  not 
ferment:'*  ("  Org.  Chem."  p.  271.) 

In  fact  the  grape  is  plainly  constructed  with  a  view  to 
prevent  the  fermentative  process  taking  place  upon  its 
contents. 

The  tannin,  coloring,  and  resinous  principles  are  de 
termined  to  the  coat  or  husk,  for  the  purpose  of  forming 
a  skin-bottle  impervious  to  the  action  of  the  air,  and  ex 
cluding  the  operation  of  those  external  agents  which 
promote  decay.  Next  to  the  skin  is  placed  the  acid,  be 
yond  that  the  saccharine  pulp,  then  comes  the  glutinous 
central  pulp,  protected  by  a  treble  barrier  from  the  influ- 

*0n  this  principle,  Mr.  F.  "Wright,  of  Kensington,  has  prepared,  for  sac 
ramental  use,  the  pure  juice  of  grapes,  free  from  alcohol,  and  supplies  above 
three  hundred  of  the  churches. 


50.  Do  organic  changes,  such  as  fermentation,  take  place  spontaneously  ? 
Is  not  a  distinct  agent  always  necessary  ?  State  the  general  structure  of  the 
grape,  after  Fabroni,  and  show  how  provisions  are  made  to  prevent  the  al 
coholic  fermentation.  Give,  finally,  the  solemn  testimony  of  Holy  Writ. 


52 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE, 


'jar  — ^—  F.  si  n. 

THE  ANATOMY  OF   THE  GRAPE. 
See  Adam  Fabroni  "  On  the  Art  of  Making  Wine,"  ch.  1. 

EXPLANATION. 

Figure  I.  exhibits  the  grape  stripped  of  its  skin  ;  beneath  the  transparent 
superficial  pulp  maybe  traced  the  texture  of  the  conduits  or  veins  coming 
from  the  crown,  B,  and,  after  ramifying  into  a  species  of  fine  network, 
descending  into  the  stem,  A. 

Fig.  II.  represents  a  horizontal  section,  made  a  little  above  the  seeds. 
The  superficies,  A,  is  clearly  divided  into  three  parts;  through  the  central 
part  run  two  arteries  (AA,  Fig.  VI.);  the  outward  region  borders  on  the 
skin  and  extends  to  the  conduits  or  veins  (marked  0,  Fig.  V) ;  while  a  third 
substance  is  placed  between  the  central  and  the  external  (or  cortical)  pulp, 
which  may  be  called  the  intermediate  pulp. 

Fig.  III.  presents  a  vertical  section,  with  a  seed  in  one  half. 

Fig.  IV.  presents  another  section,  containing  both  seeds,  DD,  enclosed  in 
the  central  pulp,  E;  the  seeds  are  united  by  means  of  a  gelatinous  ligature, 
to  the  two  funicles,  BC,  running  from  A.  The  other  half,  G,  represents 
more  distinctly  the  two  arteries  which  run  through  the  central  pulp,  K. 

Fig.  V.  displays  the  two  arteries,  CD,  which  rise  from  the  centre  of  the 
stem,  A,  and  ascend  through  the  middle  of  the  fruit,  to  the  crown,  B,  from 
whence  they  fold  back  and  ramify  into  the  beautiful  network  described  in 
Fig.  I.  (Their  course  backward  is  marked  C  in  the  cut.) 

Fig.  VI.  represents  the  arteries  and  reins  separated  from  the  pulp. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  53 

ence  of  ox3Tgen.  It  is  in  this  central  part,  and  in  the 
organic  structure  of  cells  and  vesicles,  that  the  gluten 
resides,  and  it  is  this  nitrogenized  substance  which  is 
most  susceptible  of  decay,  and  from  the  putrefaction  of 
which  the  yeast  is  formed ;  hence,  so  long  as  flie  pulp 
remains  excluded  from  air,  and  the  cells  unbroken,  it  is 
impossible  that  the  alcoholic  fermentation  can  take  place. 
This,  however,  is  done  by  the  violent  crushing  or  tread 
ing  of  the  fruit ;  but  it  is  not  done  ly  nature.  Indeed, 
nature  adopts  the  most  wonderful  precautions  to  prevent 
the  alcoholic  fermentation,  and  to  preserve  the  "  fruit  of 
the  vine"  unchanged,  as  wholesome  and  nourishing  food 
for  that  being  who  exerts  his  utmost  ingenuity  to  con 
vert  it  into  a  poisonous  drink  ! 

Thus  beautifully  do  the  designs  of  Nature  and  the 
discoveries  of  Science,  harmonize  with  the  declarations 
of  God's  most  Holy  Word,  -— 

"  THUS    SAITH   THE   LORD,  As  THE  GRAPE   IS   FOUND    IN 

THE  CLUSTER,  AND  one  saitli,  DESTROY  IT  NOT,  *  FOR  A 
BLESSING  is  IN  IT:  so  WILL  I  DO  FOR  MY  SERVANTS' 

SAKE,    THAT   I   MAY   NOT    DESTROY    THEM     ALL."       (Isaiah 

Ixv.  8,  "  Septuagint"  Translation.) 
•The  word  translated  "destroy"  signifies  "corrupt"  (as  in  Mai.  i.  14). 


54  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 


III. 


Ije  gteieiics  xrf  3 


51.  THE  important,  practical  question  concerning  Al 
cohol,  is  not,  How  is  it  generated,  but  what  does  it  do  in 
the  healthy  human  body  when  introduced  there?  No 
one  holds  that  it  is  indifferent  or  neutral,  —  mere  "  chip 
in  pottage,"  —  for  in  that  case,  as  no  one  would  like  it, 
so  no  one  would  take  it,  much  less  buy  it.  Does  it  then 
act  as  diet,  or  as  drug?  as  food,  or  as  poison?  In  other 
words,  will  it  help  to  sustain  health  and  strength,  which 
are  the  ends  of  food?  —  or  will  it,  on  the  contrary,  im 
pair  health  and  lessen  strength?  If  it  really  has  any 
"  adaptation  to  the  organism,"  then  its  timely  use  is 
no  violation  of  Temperance  ;  but  if  it  is,  in  its  proper 
ties  and  operation,  unsuitable  to  the  normal  wants  of 
man,  Temperance  imperiously  dictates  that  we  should 
totally  abstain  from  it.  These  questions  can  now  be 
answered  satisfactorily.  The  researches  and  discussions 
of  the  last  thirty  years,  forced  upon  the  world  of  so- 
called  "Science"  by  the  Temperance  reformers,  have, 
amidst  many  changing  Irypotheses  and  conflicting  theo 
ries,  left  amongst  the  settled  truths  of  the  question,  a 
large  number  of  clear  principles  and  demonstrated  facts 
and  laws.  To  these  we  will  now  call  attention. 


61.  What  is  the  real  question  of  importance  concerning  Alcohol  ?    How  is 
It  to  be  determined  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERAS CE.  55 

52.  The  EXPERIENCE  of  many  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  abstainers,  often  under  the  most  crucial  conditions, — 
an  experience  embracing  all  regions,  and  the  most  varied 
circumstances  of  life,  — has  shown  that  people  are  not 
only  as  well  able  to  perform  the  duties  and  enjoy  the 
natural  pleasures  of  existence,  without  strong  drink  as 
with  it,  but  that  their  strength  is  increased,  their  health 
improved,  and  their  enjo}Tments  augmented.  In  England, 
where  Government  and  Life  Assurance  statistics  are  ac 
cessible,  it  has  been  established,  that  the  health  of  tee 
totalers  is,  on  the  average,  one-half  better  than  that  of 
moderate  and  free  drinkers  together  ;  and  that  the  value  of 
life  amongst  abstainers  is  increased  by  one-third  as  com 
pared  with  the  moderate  drinkers.*  And  this  fact  holds 
true,  equally  of  abstaining  soldiers,  —  in  India,  China, 
Afghanistan,  the  Crimea,  —  of  peasants  in  agricultural 
counties,  and  of  artisans  in  large,  manufacturing  cities. 
In  India,  the  percentage  mortality  amongst  the  British 
troops,  in  one  presidency,  after  an  experiment  extending 
over  several  years,  stood  thus:  —  Abstainers,  1  ;  Mod 
erate  drinkers,  2;  Free-drink'ers,  4.  |  In  "the  Crimean 

*  Notwithstanding  the  disadvantage,  that  in  the  ranks  of  Temperance 
Men  are  included  an  extra  proportion  of  men  (now  reclaimed)  who  once 
were  drunkards. 

t The  "South  India  Temperance  Journal"  for  1841  records  the  following 
facts  in  relation  to  the  25th  (British)  Regiment,  stationed  at  Cannamore :— • 
241  Teetotalers,  in  a  year  sent  to  the  Hospital          198  =  80  per  cent. 

767  Xon-teetotalers  sent 2,202  =  286       " 

The  Teetotalers  had  of  deaths     .       .       .       .          5=2" 
The  Drinkers  had  .  23  =     3      " 


52.  What  has  Experience  shown  in  regard  to  abstainers  ?  What  is  the 
verdict  of  Life  Assurance  Societies  ?  What  was  the  result  of  the  trial  of 
abstinence  by  the  English  soldiers  in  India?  In  the  Crimea?  What  does 
Dr.  Lyons  report  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  Indian  statistics  2 


5G  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

war,  the  Turkish  troops,  though  badly  camped  and  fed, 
never  had  a  death-rate  higher  than  5  per  cent.,  even  when 
scurvy  prevailed,  and  the  British  troops  never  sank 
lower  than  10.  Dr.  Lyons'  Report  on  the  Army  of  the 
Crimea  admits  that  the  porter  rations  were  injurious ; 
while  the  rum  rations  were  simply  deadly.  The  army 
returns  from  India  illustrate  the  same  truth.  In  the  Ben 
gal  presidency,  where  rum  rations  were  given  (of  course 
in  "moderation"),  the  army  had  73  deaths  per  1000 
over  an  average  of  20  years.  In  the  Bombay  presi 
dency  ,when  porter  was  tried,  after  a  short  trial,  the  deaths 
were  reduced  to  1  in  50.  In  the  Madras  presidency, 
after  a  long  trial  the  deaths  diminished  to  38  per  1000. 
But  amongst  the  Temperance  soldiers,  the  death-rate 
sank  to  the  normal  rate  of  11  per  1000.  The  plain  teach 
ing  of  this  is,  that  spirits  'killed  62  soldiers  per  1000 ; 
porter  only  27  per  1000 ;  pale-ale,  owing  to  its  greater 
approximation  to  water,  will  simply  kill  about  12  per 
1000  ;  or,  in  other  words,  double  the  natural  mortality. 
.  53.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  which  may  be  stated  in 
this  connection,  that  Sales'  Brigade,  when  exposed  to 
great  hardship  and  privation  in  Afghanistan,  but  hap 
pily  beyond  the  reach  of  "  drinks,"  enjoyed  an  unexam 
pled  exemption  from  sickness,  crime,  and  death.*  Gen 
erals  Napier  and  Havelock  f  bore  the  same  testimony  to 

*  The  words  of  Gleig,  the  historian,  are,  "No  sickness,  710  crime." 
f  "  Having  been  attacked  with  fever,  Havelock  says,  'There  was  nothing 
in  surrounding  localities  to  cause  such  an  affliction,  and  therefore  I  attributed 


53.  What  was  the  experience  of  Sales'  Brigade  in  Afghanistan?  What 
famous  Indian  Generals  ascribed  their  health  to  the  practice  of  abstinence  ? 
What  was  Havelock's  experience  ?  What  was  the  testimony  of  Sir  II.  Sla- 
den,  physician  general? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  57 

the  advantages  of  abstinence  in  India,  and  Sir  Rams- 
den  Sladen,  Physician  General  of  Madras,  states  the 
result  of  his  tropical  experience  as  follows :  "I  have 
enjo}'ed  an  uncommon  share  of  health  ;  but  I  find  I  can 
go  through  bodily  and  mental  exercise  much  better  when 
I  abstain  altogether  from  alcoholic  or  fermented  liquors." 
The  celebrated  Cavalry  Generals,  STUART  and  STONE 
WALL  JACKSON,  who  fought  so  well  in  a  bad  cause,  were 
both  abstainers,  and  ascribed  their  power  of  endurance 
to  their  abstinence,  and  no  system  could  be  more  severely 
tested  than  was  abstinence  from  strong  drink  during  the 
burning  heat  and  the  freezing  cold  of  their  summer  and 
winter  campaigns. 

54.  Extreme'  exertion  under  high  artificial  tempera- 


it  partly  to  a  rather  prolonged  exposure  on  one  occasion  to  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  and  partly  to  having,  at  the  suggestions  of  friends,  modified  the  habits 
which  they  deemed  too  austere  for  the  fatigues  of  active  service,  and  con 
sented  to  drink  a  few  glasses  of  icine  daily,  instead  of  restricting  myself,  as  I 
had  done  for  many  months,  to  pure  water.  The  fever  was  speedily  checked ; 
and  on  the  disappearance  of  its  symptoms  under  skilful  treatment,  I  resolved 
henceforth  to  legislate  for  myself  in  dietetics ;  and,  resuming  my  former 
system,  abjured  entirely  the  use  of  wine.  A  single  example  does  not  prove 
a  rule ;  but  my  own  experience,  as  well  as  that  of  a  few  others  in  the  Ben 
gal  Contingent,  certainly  goes  to  establish  the  fact,  that  water-drinking  is 
the  best  regimen  for  a  soldier.' 

"  Although  after  this  he  was  exposed  to  rain  and  sun,  and  made  long  and 
painful  marches  in  a  heated  atmosphere,  and  endured  cold  and  fatigue,  his 
health  remained  iirm  and  unshaken.  He  was  willing  to  drink  wine  as  well 
as  water  if  it  could  be  proved  beneficial.  A  man  of  fact  in  this,  as  well  as  in 
everything  else,  he  abjured  the  use  of  all  stimulants  because  they  were  in 
jurious  to  his  health,  and  strove  to  drive  them  from  the  army  because  he 
knew  they  made  soldiers  worse  in  every  respect,  instead  of  better."  —  Head- 
ley's  Life  of  Havelock. 


54.  What  was  the  result  of  two  remarkable  trials  of  abstinence  in  the 
Government  Yards  at  Portsmouth  and  Woolwich  ?  What  is  the  experience 
of  the  Sheffield  Armor-Plate-rollers  ? 


58  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

tnro  is  also  borne  far  better  by  abstainers  than  by 
drinkers.  Above  seventy  years  ago,  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Beddocs,  of  Bristol,  tried  the  experiment  amongst  the 
Anchorsmiths  of  Portsmouth,  and,  in  his  "  Hygeia,"  re 
cords  that  the  abstainers  worked  far  better  and  with  less 
subsequent  fatigue.  In  the  attempt  to  make  the  "  Lan 
caster  shells,"  at  Woolwich,  three  sets  of  men  broke 
down  in  the  process,  so  excessive  were  the  labor  and 
heat ;  and  only  when  a  band  of  abstainers  undertook  the 
work  was  this  "monster  shell"  actually  made.  The 
London  "Times"  of  Sept.  11,  1867,  in  describing  the 
rolling  of  the  15-inch  armor-plate  at  the  Atlas  works, 
Sheffield,  gives  the  following  splendid  testimony  to  the 
physical  excellence  of  abstinence.  The  slab  of  iron  to 
be  rolled  weighed  21  tons.  "  Sometimes  one  came  on 
groups  of  men  who  were  saturating  in  water  the  rough 
bands  of  sacking  in  which  they  were  enveloped  before 
going  to  wrestle  with  some  white-heat  forging;  some 
times  on  men  nearly  naked,  with  the  perspiration  pour 
ing  from  them,  who  had  come  to  rest  for  a  moment  from 
the  puddling  furnaces,  and  to  take  a  long  drink  of  the 
thick  oatmeal  and  water,  which  is  all  that  they  venture 
on  drinking  during  their  labor,  and  which  long  experi 
ence  has  proved  to  be  the  most  sustaining  of  all  drinks 
under  the  tremendous  heats  to  which  they  are  subjected." 
55.  A  difference  of  climate,  of  heat  or  cold,  does  not 
appear  to  make  any  material  difference  in  the  result,  as 
to  the  advantages  of  abstinence.  In  the  Army  of  the 


55.  Does  climate  make  any  material  difference  in  a  trial  of  abstinence  ? 
What  was  the  result  of  the  experiment  in  the  Army  of  the  German  Con 
federation?  What  is  the  verdict  of  British  Life  Assurance,  as  regards 
Alcohol  ?  What  of  the  Preston  Sick  Clubs  I 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  59 

German  Confederation,  when  the  experiment  was  made 
above  twenty  years  ago,  amongst  27,000  troops,  it  was 
found  that  the  strong  country  levies  from  Holstein, 
Mecklenburgh,  and  Hanover,  chiefly  laborers  and  wood 
cutters,  to  whom  the  usual  grog  rations  were  given,  had 
90  cases  of  sickness  per  1000 ;  while  the  city-bred 
troops,  less  inured  to  toil,  from  the  Hanse-towns  and 
Brunswick,  from  whom  they  were  withheld,  had  only  42 
cases.  So,  in  the  British  Temperance  Provident  Life 
Assurance  Society,  taking  the  most  favorable  adult  pe 
riod,  it  is  found  that  the  rate  of  mortality  is  11  per  1000, 
while  in  other  offices,  very  careful  in  the  selection  of  their 
lives,  it  ranges  from  16  to  23  at  the  same  age.  In  the 
Provident,  during  the  last  twelve  years,  separate  books 
have  been  opened  for  the  insurance  of  good  lives  of  non- 
abstainers  ;  but  when  the  quinquennial  profits  were  di 
vided,  it  was  discovered  that  one-third  more  profit  ac 
crued  to  the  teetotaler  than  to  the  respectable,  limited 
drinker.  The  first  report  of  the  Health  of  Towns  Com 
mission,  in  England,  shows  another  striking  fact,  arising 
from  a  comparison  of  the  statistics  of  the  Temperance 
Sick  Club  with  that  of  a  large  number  of  others,  includ 
ing  a  Manager's  Sick  Club,  composed  of  members  living 
under  sanitary  conditions  superior  to  those  which  the 
majority  of  working-men  can  now  enjoy.  1000  drinkers 
had  23  sick  per  j'car,  for  an  average  of  7  weeks  and  4 
days,  at  a  cost  per  head  of  56s. ;  while  1000  abstainers 
had  only  13  sick,  for  a  period  of  3  weeks  and  2  days,  at 
a  cost  of  29s.  per  head ;  so  that  the  teetotalers  extend 
to  each  other  more  pecuniary  help,  and  save  themselves 
much  protracted  pain.  Compared  with  them,  there  is, 
in  the  average  community  of  "  moderate  drinkers,"  twice 


GO  TEXT-BOOK   OP   TEMPERANCE. 

as  many  persons  sick,  for  twice  as  long  a  time,  and  at 
twice  as  much  expense.  This,  again,  amounts  to  the  sig 
nificant  fact,  that  abstainers  save  themselves  from  three- 
fourths  of  the  common  miseries  of  mankind.  The  pains 
and  depressions  of  the  sick-bed  are  diminished,  the  cost 
of  sickness  abridged,  the  prolonged  and  painful  nursing 
of  wife  and  daughter  rendered  needless,  and  a  vast  train 
of  inconveniences  that  attend  disease,  especially  amongst 
the  poor,  are  saved  to  the  sufferer  and  his  friends.  Over 
the  household  of  the  truly  temperate,  the  cloud  of  afflic 
tion  rests  neither  so  densely  nor  so  frequently,  and  while 
it  casts  a  shadow  less  sombre,  passes  quickly  away,  dis 
pelled  by  the  bursting  sunlight  of  health  and  hope. 

56.  The  great  navigators  to  the  polar  regions,  both 
English  and  American,  —  Ross,  Parry,  Franklin,  Rich 
ardson,  Kennedy,  and  Kane,  —  have  demonstrated  the 
actual  perniciousness  of  alcoholics  in  high  latitudes,  where 
all  the  powers  of  life  are  needed  to  resist  the  destructive 
energies  of  physical  nature.  Whatever  tends  to  lower 
the  vital  activity,  or  to  depress  the  heat-generating  pow 
ers  of  the  living  frame,  must  be  specially  avoided  under 
the  rigorous  climate  which  prevails  within  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  circles.  Hence  the  rule  of  abstinence  was  en 
forced  by  authority,  but  with  undoubted  benefit  to  the 
health  and  strength  of  the  men.*  If  alcoholics  cannot 

*  To  the  numerous  testimonies  of  Experience  referred  to,  we  add  that  of 
Sir  John  Richardson,  31.  L>.,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the 
Arctic  Expeditions : 

"  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  spiritous  liquors,  diminish  thepoicer  of  resisting 

50.  How  did  the  Arctic  Navigators  deal  with  Alcoholics  ?  What  is  the  in 
ference  from  their  experience  ?  What  is  the  testimony  of  Sir  John  llich- 
nrdson  and  Dr.  Me  Rue?  What  is  the  verdict  of  experience,  as  stated  by 
JJrinton,  Smith,  Lnllemund,  etc.? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE.  Gl 

give  power  in  circumstances  of  such  extremity  and  need, 
it  is  simple  folly  to  use  them  with  such  a  view,  in  the 
ordinary  circumstances  of  daily  life.  The  late  Dr.  "W. 
Brinton,  of  London,  a  man  of  large  experience,  thus  ad 
mits  this  truth  in  his  great  work  on  "  Dietetics,"  — 

"  Careful  observation  leaves  little  doubt  that  a  moder 
ate  dose  of  beer  or  wine  would  in  most  cases  at  once 
diminish  the  maximum  weight  which  a  healthy  person 
could  lift.  Mental  acuteness,  accuracy  of  perception,  and 
delicacy  of  the  senses,  are  all  so  far  opposed  by  alcohol,  as 
that  the  maximum  efforts  of  each  are  incompatible  with 
the  ingestion  of  any  moderate  quantity  of  fermented 
liquid.  A  single  glass  will  often  suffice  to  take  the  edge 
off  both  mind  and  body,  and  to  reduce  their  capacity  to 
something  below  their  perfection  of  work."  (p.  389, 
1861.) 

Dr.  E.  SMITH,  in  his  experiments  recorded  in  the  "  Phi 
losophical  Transactions"  for  1859,  had  proved  the 
same  thing  of  alcohol,  — 


cold.  Plenty  of  food  and  sound  digestion  are  the  best  sources  of  heat.  We 
found  on  our  northern  journey  that  tea  was  far  more  refreshing  than  wine  or 
spirits,  which  ice  soon  ceased  to  care  for,  while  the  craving  for  the  tea  in 
creased.  Liebig,  I  believe,  considers  that  spirits  are  necessary  to  northern 
nations,  to  diminish  the  waste  of  the  solids  of  the  body,  but  my  experience 
leads  me  to  a  contrary  conclusion.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  have  for 
many  years  entirely  excluded  spirits  from  the  fur-countries  in  the  north, 
over  which  they  have  exclusive  control,  to  the  great  improvement  of  the 
health  and  morals  of  their  Canadian  servants,  and  of  the  Indian  tribes." 

[Dr.  Mcliae's  testimony  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Montreal,  in  1850,  was  as  decisive,  and  is  as 
reliable,  as  either  of  the  others.  "  The  moment  that  a  man  had  swallowed  a 
drink  of  spirits,  it  was  certain  that  his  day's  work  was  nearly  at  an  end.  It 
was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  rule  of  total  abstinence  be  rigidly  en 
forced,  if  we  would  accomplish  our  day's  task.  Whatever  it  could  do  for  a 
sick  man,  its  use  as  a  beverage  when  we  had  work  on  hand,  in  that  tcrrifio 
cold,  was  out  of  the  question."  I.  F.  II.] 


62  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

"It  greatty  lessens  muscular  tone  and  power.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  it  increases  nervous  influence,  whilst 
there  is  much  evidence  that  it  lessens  nervous  power" 

Professors  LALLEMAND  and  PERRIN,  of  Paris,  a  year 
later,  state  the  same  truth  amongst  their  experimental 
conclusions,  — 

"  Muscular  power  is  iceaJtened,  and  (in  extreme  cases) 
extinguished." 

Volumes  of  concrete  experiences  might  be  given, 
bringing  us  to  the  conclusion  that  alcohol  depresses 
power  rather  than  increases  it ;  and  science  will  ex 
plain  the  reason. 

57.  If  experience  has  settled  the  fact,  as  a  fact,  that 
men  are  really  more  healthy  and  more  vigorous,  in  body 
and  mind,  by  abstaining  than  by  using  intoxicants, 
science,  by  technical  and  special  experiments,  has  no 
less  certainly  determined  several  elements  of  the  theory, 
which  account  for  the  fact.  It  is  now  universally  ad 
mitted  that  alcohol  is  not  an  element  that  makes  blood, 
out  of  which  is  restored  or  built  up  the  various  parts 
and  tissues  of  the  living  framework.  It  has  not  the 
proximate  elements  of  nutrition,  for  cell  or  membrane, 
for  bone,  muscle,  nerve,  or  brain.  It  cannot,  therefore, 
nourish. 

Baron  LIEBIG  says :  "  Beer,  wine,  spirits,  etc.,  fur 
nish  no  clement  capable  of  entering  into  the  composition 
of  blood,  muscular  fibre,  or  any  part  which  is  the  seat 
of  the  vital  principle." 

Prof.  MOLESCIIOTT,  in  his  work  on  the  "  Chemistry  of 


67.    "What  is  the  final  conclusion  in  regard  to  Alcohol  as  nutriment  1    Stato 
the  opinions  of  Professors  Moleschott,  Licbig,  and  Carpenter? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  63 

Diet,"  says  :    "  Alcohol  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  an 
alimentary  principle."     ("Erlangen,"  1853.) 

Dr.  W.  B.  CARPENTER,  in  the  fourth  edition  of  his 
"Manual  of  Physiology"  (1865),  says:  "Alcohol 
cannot  supply  anything  which  is  essential  to  the  due  nu 
trition  of  the  tissues."  (p.  327.) 

In  short,  it  has  no  lime  and  phosphorus  for  the  bones  ; 
no  iron  or  salts  for  the  blood  ;  no  nitrogen,  in  any  form, 
for  vital  tissue  of  any  kind  ;  and  it  is  not  even  a  solid, 
as  all  real  food  is  and  must  be. 

58.  But  a  hypothesis  was  broached  by  Liebig,  in  1843, 
that  since  alcohol  is  not  found  in  the  secretions  and  ex 
cretions,  when  taken  in  limited  quantities  (which,  how 
ever,  it  is),  it  must  be  decomposed  (i.  e.,  combusted  or 
burnt)  in  the  blood,  through  the  action  of  oxygen,  and 
by  this  oxidation  supply  heat  to  the  body,  and  therefore 
energy  or  force.  To  this  the  author  of  this  volume  re 
plied,  at  the  time  :  (1)  that  several  experimenters  have 
detected  alcohol  in  the  relial  secretion,  and  that  it  is  pat 
ent  to  all,  by  mere  smell,  that  some  of  the  associated 
alcohols  (and  therefore  alcohol  itself)  with  the  character 
istic  odors  of  whiskey,  wine,  rum,  beer,  etc.,  rapidly  es 
cape  from  the  breath  of  the  drinker  ;  (2)  that  if,  possibly, 
some  of  the  alcohol  is  burnt  up,  it  must  necessarily  be 
by  robbing  the  blood  of  oxygen  (a  fixed  quantity)  intended, 
first,  to  burn  up  the  effete  tissues  of  the  frame,  and,  sec 
ond,  to  oxidize  the  innocent  and  normal  oils  and  fatty 
matters  in  the  blood ;  (3)  that  if  it  does  that,  then  it 


58.  What  was  the  hypothesis  of  Liebig,  in  regard  to  Alcohol  as  an  element 
of  respiration  ?  What  were  Dr.  Lees'  five  reasons  for  rejecting  that  hypothe 
sis,  and  ignoring  the  conclusion? 


64  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

leaves  a  more  valuable  fuel  than  itself  undecomposed,  and 
consequently  the  body  becomes  cooler  ;  while  (4)  at  the 
same  time,  waste  matter  being  unduly  kept  in  the  s}rs- 
tem,  the  vital  tone  is  lowered,  and  diseases  of  congestion 
are  set  up ;  and  (5)  that  the  experiments  of  Fyfe  and 
Prout,  published  in  the  "Annals  of  Philosophy,"  in  1813, 
clearly  show  that  less  carbonic  acid  is  eliminated  in  the 
breath  after  the  use  of  wine,  and  therefore  less  heat  is 
produced,  —  which  result  corresponds  to  actual  experi 
ence. 

59.  Two  years  later  this  fact  became  admitted  by  con 
tinental  experimenters,  including  Liebig  himself,  who 
confessed  that  alcohol,  if  oxidized,  would  yield  less  heat, 
at  greater  cost,  than  the  normal  fuel  of  the  body.  He 
says,  — 

"  If  1  part  by  weight  of  Sugar  of  Milk  can  keep  up 
the  temperature  of  the  body  at  the  normal  height  for 
33  hours,  then  an  equal  weight  of  Alcohol  will  keep  it 
up  for  65  hours,  and  an  equal  weight  of  Fat  for  87 
hours."  ("Animal  Chemistry,"  3d  ed.,  p.  117.  Lond. 
1840.) 

Thus  he  admits  that,  taking  both  cost  and  conse 
quence  into  account,  the  poison,  Alcohol,  is  four  times 
dearer  than  the  natural  fuel,  Oil.  Moreover,  whatever 
amount  of  alcohol  is  oxidized,  leaves  a  proportionate 
amount  of  carbonaceous  food  uuconsumed ;  and,  in 
some  cases,  compels  nature  to  protest,  by  setting  up  a 
disinclination  for  fermented  liquors,  — 


59.  Does  Alcohol  hinder  the  elimination  of  Carbonic  Acid  from  the  body  ? 
What  great  authorities  admit  the  fact?  What  is  the  evidence  wanted,  but 
not  obtained,  to  prove  that  Alcohol  is  oxidized,  or  burnt  up  within  the  body  ? 
What  is  the  concession  of  Dr.  Anstie  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  G5 

"  When  Cod-liver  oil  is  administered  to  persons  ac 
customed  to  drink  daily  a  certain  quantity  of  wine," 
says  Liebig,  "  it  often  happens  that  the  inclination  for 
wine  is  diminished,  so  that  at  last  they  can  take  no  wine 
at  all ;  obviously  because  alcohol  and  fat-oil  in  this  case 
mutually  impede  the  excretion  of  each  other  through  the 
skin  and  lungs."  (Ibid.,  p.  97.) 

Dr.  YIEROKDT,  of  Carlsruhe,  says,  as  the  result  of  ex 
periment  :  "  The  mean  number  of  expirations  in  a  min 
ute  is  fourteen ;  that  number  increases  after  meals. 
The  amount  of  carbonic  acid  expired  diminishes  consid 
erably  after  the  ing estion  of  fermented  liquors,  and  does 
not  return  to  its  natural  quantity  for  the  space  of  two 
hours.  During  moderate  exercise  at  least  one  third 
more  carbonic  acid  is  exhaled  with  each  expiration  than 
during  repose."  ("  Physiology  of  Respiration,"  1845.) 

In  other  words,  the  benefits  of  fresh  air  and  exercise 
are  counteracted  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  fluids,  and  the 
body  is  not  healthily  ventilated. 

Professor  LEHMANN  says:  "We  should  forbid  the 
use  of  spirituous  drinks,  and  not  prescribe  tinctures, 
which  might  hinder  the  necessary  excretion  of  carbonic 
acid."  ("  Physiological  Chemistry.") 

No  doubt,  alcohol  does  hinder  the  excretion  of  foul  air 
from  the  body,  and  retains  effete,  bad  matter  of  various 
kinds  —  thus  promoting,  on  the  one  hand,  the  production 
of  diseases  like  rheumatism  and  gout,  and,  on  the  other, 
of  bilious  and  typhoid  fevers ;  but  there  is  no  evidence 
yet  furnished  which  proves  that  alcohol  is  decomposed  in 
the  blood.  If  it  be,  where  are  the  oxides  ?  When  steel 
is  oxidized,  we  can  find  the  rust  in  evidence.  So  far  as 
chemistry  can  tell  us,  by  experiment  and  analogy,  oxidiz- 


CC  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

ing  alcohol  would  produce  aldehyde,  acetic  acid,  and  finally 
carbonic  acid  and  water.  But  while  the  latter  two  have 
not  been  shown  to  be  produced  in  greater  quantities,  the 
former  have  not  been  found  at  all  after  the  use  of  pure  alco 
hol,  though  their  presence  is  easily  detected  in  the  blood 
when  directly  introduced  through  the  stomach.  If  the 
wood  and  coal  have  been  here,  we  say,  show  us  the 
ashes.  If  the  eggs  have  been  consumed,  produce  the 
shells.  So,  if  alcohol  is  decomposed  in  the  body,  pro 
duce  in  evidence  its  derivatives.  This  is  a  fair  chal 
lenge  ;  yet  one  physician,  who  clings  to  his  theory  with 
singular  pertinacity,  confesses  that,  after  twelve  years' 
research  and  experiment,  he  has  not  been  able  to  produce 
this  proof.  But  even  he,  —  Dr.  F.  E.  Anstie,  the  author 
of  "Stimulants  and  Narcotics,"  —  in  a  lecture  to  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  in  August,  18G7,  is  com 
pelled  to  abandon  the  notion  that  alcohol  warms.  He 
says:  "Alcohol,  as  has  been  abundantly  proved  by 
the  admirable  researches  of  Dr.  Sidney  Ringer,  does  not 
elevate  but  reduces  bodily  temperature,  when  given  in  even 
the  largest  wow-intoxicating  doses,  except  in  the  case 
where  the  temperature  is  already  below  the  normal  stand 
ard.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  this 
observation,  which  I  have  repeatedly  verified."  General 
experience,  special  experiment,  the  quantitative  measure 
ment  of  the  lessened  oxidized  products  of  combustion 
in  the  blood,  and  the  test  of  the  thermometer,  all  unite 
in  a  demonstration  of  the  fallacy  that  alcohol  is  a  warm 
ing  agent,  or  fuel  to  the  body ;  and  whatever  the  science 
of  the  future  may  settle  as  to  the  destiny  of  alcohol, 
cannot  disturb  in  the  least  the  certainty  of  this  fact. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  67 

60.  The  end  of  food  is  tlie  generation  of  force,  with 
which  man  performs  the  ivork  of  life.     But  the  possible 
methods  by  which  food  can  generate  power  are  only 
three  :  (1)  by  the  organization  of  tissue  ;  (2)  by  the  sup 
ply  of  the  chemical  ingredients  of  the  blood ;  and  (3)  by 
furnishing  fuel  for  oxidation  and  the  consequent  produc 
tion  of  heat.     It  is  now  seen  that  alcohol  can  do  none 
of  these  things :  it  cannot  make  tissue,  or  supply  salts, 
and  phosphates,  or  feed  the  furnace.    Prof.  LEIIMANN,  in 
his    "Physiological    Chemistry,"  says:     "We  cannot 
believe  that  alcohol,  theine,  etc.,  belong  to  the  class 
of  substances  capable  of  contributing  towards  the  main 
tenance  of  the  vital  functions."     Dr.  E.  SMITH,  F.R.  S., 
says :  "  Alcohol  is  not  a  true  food.     It  interferes  with 
alimentation."   (1859.) 

If  it  be  not  food,  however,  is  it  not  possibly  drink? 

61.  DRINK  is  needed  as  the  VEHICLE  of  all  vital  move 
ment.     Adapted  to  this  end,  Providence  has  given  us,  in 
wonderful  abundance, 

"  Honest  water,  too  weak  to  be  a  sinner." 

As  Dr.  W.  B.  CARPENTER,  in  his  "  Manual  of  Phj'siol- 
ogy,"  impressively  observes,  — 

"  Water  serves  as  the  medium  by  which  all  alimentary 
material  is  introduced  into  the  system ;  for  until  dis 


co.  What  is  the  end  of  Food,  and  the  threefold  means  by  which  it  can  ac 
complish  that  end  ?  What  eminent  Physiologists  deny  that  Alcohol  is  capa 
ble  of  being  food  ?  Give  their  words. 

61.  Can  Alcohol  be  drink 7  What  are  the  varied  uses,  and  adapted  proper 
ties,  of  water  ?  How  does  Alcohol  antagonize  the  work  of  water  ?  Why 
does  Alcohol  precipitate  salts  and  organic  compounds  ?  How  do  Turner 
Liebig,  and  Hooper  describe  its  relations  to  water? 


68  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

solved  in  the  juices  of  the  stomach,  food  cannot  be  truly 
received  into  the  economy.  It  is  water  which  holds  the 
organizable  materials  of  the  blood  either  in  solution  or 
suspension,  and  thus  serves  to  convey  them  through 
the  minutest  capillary  pores  into  the  substance  of  the 
solid  tissues.  It  is  water  which,  mingled  in  various 
proportions  with  the  solid  components  of  the  various 
textures,  gives  to  them  the  consistence  they  require. 
And  it  is  water  which  takes  up  the  products  of  their 
decay  and  convej'S  them,  by  a  most  complicated  sys 
tem  of  sewage,  altogether  out  of  the  system.  .  .  . 
No  other  liquid  can  supply  its  place;  and  the  deprivation 
of  water  is  felt  even  more  severely  than  the  deprivation 
of  food.  .  .  .  Alcohol  cannot  answer  any  one  of 
those  important  purposes  for  which  the  use  of  water 
is  required  in  the  system ;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  tends  to  antagonize  many  of  those  purposes  by  its  power 
of  precipitating  most  of  the  organic  compounds  whose 
solution  in  water  is  essential  to  their  appropriation  by 
the  living  body."  (1865.) 

Alcohol  is  thus  described  in  the  sixth  edition  of  Dr. 
Turner's  "Elements  of  Chemistry,"  edited  by  Professor 
Liebig :  "  Pure  alcohol  is  a  clear,  colorless,  mobile  liquid  ; 
specific  gravity  0.792  —  0.791  at  68°,  or  0.7947  at  60°. 
It  boils  at  172°,  and  has  not  been  frozen  by  any  cold 
hitherto  produced.  Is  a  non-conductor  of  electricit}^ 
The  odor  of  alcohol  is  agreeable  and  penetrating,  and 
intoxicates  powerfully.  It  is  highly  inflammable,  and  its 
combustion,  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  oxygen,  yields 
only  carbonic  acid  and  water.  Alcohol  greedily  absorbs 
water  from  the  atmosphere ;  and  deprives  animal  sub 
stances  of  the  icater  they  contain,  causing  them  to  shrivel 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  69 

up.  Hence  its  use  in  preserving  anatomical  prepara 
tions" 

"Alcohol,"  says  Dr.  Hooper,  in  his  "Lexicon  Medi- 
cum,"  "  has  a  very  strong  affinity  for  water,  combining 
with  it  in  every  proportion  ;  it  even  separates  the  water 
from  several  salts  when  they  are  dissolved  in  it,  and 
precipitates  the  solid  matter." 

This,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  renders  alcohol  an 
agent  hostile  to  digestion.  Two  agents  more  utterly  an 
tagonistic  in  their  function  than  alcohol  and  water  can 
not  be  found,  for  what  the  one  does,  the  other  directly 
undoes. 

These  facts,  if  not  self-evident,  are  undeniable.  Ev 
erywhere  "  water"  is  hailed  as  a  friend  by  the  voices  of 
vital  Nature,  —  at  least  in  all  ordinary  measures.  The 
flower  in  the  garden,  the  grain  in  the  field,  the  tree  in  the 
forest,  unite  with  "  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills,"  in 
illustrating  the  necessity  and  the  benefaction  of  this  sim 
ple  and  beautiful  liquid,  —  the  blood  of  Nature,  the 
"  Water  of  Life."  How  marvellous  and  manifold  are  its 
properties  !  It  cleanses,  but  never  pollutes  ;  it  aids  to 
nourish,  but  never  starves  ;  it  excites  to  normal  action, 
but  never  irritates  to  fever  and  inflammation.  Beyond 
all  other  agents,  it  absorbs  heat  and  circulates  it  equably 
throughout  the  frame,  and,  in  adapted  quantity,  is  al 
ways  retained  until  the  function  which  needs  it  is  ful 
filled.  Hence  it  wastes  no  force ;  makes  no  deduction 
from  the  sum  total  of  organic  power ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trar}r,  aids  the  performance  of  every  natural  function. 

Alcohol,  then,  contrasted  in  all  its  physiological  prop 
erties  with  water,  cannot  rationally  be  regarded  as  drink, 
any  more  than  food,  since  the  one  purpose  of  drink  — 


70  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

that  of  acting  as  a  vehicle  or  menstruum  of  digestion  and 
circulation  —  is  counteracted  exactly  to  the  extent  to 
which  it  is  introduced  into  the  system  of  any  living 
thing,  whether  vegetal  or  animal. 

G2.  When  it  is  asserted  that  strong  drinks  are  nourish- 
inrj,  the  abstainer  is  strictly  logical  in  replying,  that  such 
an  opinion  is  fallacious,  because,  in  the  first  place,  it  does 
not  contain  the  elements  of  the  living  tissue  ;  and  in  the 
second,  it  is  speedily  cast  out  of  the  body,  in  greater  or 
lesser  quantities, —  in  fact,  is  treated  as  an  intruder.  To 
this  Dr.  Lankester  has  unwisely  objected  :  "  Both  water 
and  alcohol  are  equally  eliminated  from  the  system,  un 
changed  "  !  Very  well,  we  reply,  the  objection  would  be 
a  sufficient  refutation  of  anybody  who  asserted  that 
"  water  nourished  the  body  in  the  sense  ofv  food."  But 
nobody  does  say  that  of  water,  though  many  assert  it  of 
alcohol,  which  is  lighter  and  more  volatile !  But  even 
from  the  bare  objection  two  clear  inferences  arise  :  (1) 
that  it  is  absurd  to  call  either  alcohol  or  water  food; 
(2)  that  to  destroy  genuine  food  wholesale,  in  order  to 
generate  an  article  not  only  worthless  but  pernicious,  is 
at  least  as  gratuitous!}'  wicked  as  for  an  invading  gen 
eral  to  burn  down  the  growing  corn,  or  tear  up  the  ripen 
ing  vines.  But  after  this  evasion,  the  differences  between 
the  natural  element  of  Water,  and  the  artificial  Alcohol, 
still  remain.  Water  fulfils  useful,  necessary,  and  blessed 
purposes  in  the  vital  economy,  and  goes  out  of  the  body 
in  the  actual  discharge  of  a  beneficent  sanitary  mission  ; 
while  Alcohol  really  creates  an  internal  commotion,  de- 


G2.  What  was  the  evasive  objection  of  Dr.  Lankester,  and  other  advo- 
cates  of  tippling  ?    What  is  the  answer  to  it  f 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  71 

files  the  vital  stream,  lowers  the  temperature  of  the 
blood,  wastes  the  nervous  energy,  impairs  the  nutrition 
of  the  structures,  and  is  finally  expelled  by  the  "  Po 
lice  Force  "  of  the  Sanitary  System. 

G3.  Still  another  plea  is  put  forth  in  justification  of 
the  use  of  strong  drink  by  those  who  love  it.  "  Spirits," 
they  say,  "  may  not  be  cither  nourishing  or  warming, 
but  we  do  not  drink  pure  alcohol ;  we  drink  wine  and 
freer,  and  these  contain  other  elements,  which  are  food." 
This  delusion,  no  doubt,  is  bolstered  up  by  the  venal 
testimonies  so  readily  obtained,  and  so  widely  adver 
tised,  by  pale  ale  and  porter  brewers,  who  live  in  riches 
upon  the  ignorance  and  demoralization  of  mankind. 
They  audaciously  advertise,  for  example,  that  their  beer 
and  porter  is  "  highly  nourishing."  Now  Dr.  LYOST 
PLAYFAIR,  C.B.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Univer 
sity  of  Edinburgh,  has  analyzed  a  specimen  of  this 
drink,  and  reports  that  of  blood-forming  matter  it  con 
tains  exact!}7  one  part  in  1GGG  parts  !  Baron  Liebig,  in 
his  "  Chemical  Letters,"  states  that  the  whole  purpose 
of  brewing  is  to  get  rid  of  the  nitrogenous,  blood- 
forming  elements  of  the  grain,  and  to  transmute  the  use 
ful  sugar  into  alcohol.  u  We  can  prove,"  says  he,  "  with 
mathematical  certain tj",  that  as  much  flour  as  can  lie  on 
the  point  of  a  table-knife  is  more  nutritious  than  eight 
quarts  of  the  lest  Bavarian  beer;  that  a  person  who 
is  able  daily  to  consume  that  amount  of  beer,  obtains 
from  it,  in  a  whole  year,  in  the  most  favorable  case,  ex- 


C3.  Are  there  other  elements  in  alcoholic  drinks  that  are  nourishing? 
What  is  the  proportion  of  nutriment  in  Porter,  according  to  Professor  Play- 
fair?  What  in  Bavarian  beer,  according  to  Professor  Liebig? 


72  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

actly  the  amount  of  nutritive  constituents  which  is  con« 
tained  in  a  5-lb.  loaf,  or  in  3  Ibs.  of  flesh !  " 

64.  Dr.  HassaPs  analysis  of  "Old  Pale  Ale,"  from 
Burton,  published  by  Allsop  &  Co.  themselves,  will  en 
able  a  child  to  see  through  the  impudent  delusion.    A 
gallon  of  it,  containing  70,000  grains,  and  costing  2s., 
was   found   to   consist  of  Water,  65,320  ;  Sugar,  100 ; 
Vinegar,  200  ;  Hop  extract,  710  ;  Malt  gum,  2,510  ;  Al 
cohol,  1,160  grains.     Now,  as  we  have  seen,  only  that 
seventieth  of  a  pound  of  sugar  is  food  of  any  kind  ;  not 
the   alcohol ;   not  the   hop  (which   is  a  vegetable  nar 
cotic)  ;  not  the  vinegar ;  and  not  even  the  gum,  since 
that  substance  passes  undigested  through  the  bocty. 

65.  As  to  Wines,  the  case  is  no  better.     The  albu 
men  of  the  grape  is  valuable  nourishment,  but  in  fer 
mentation  it  becomes  yeast,  which  is  corrupting  matter ; 
while  the  sugar  becomes  spirit.   Now  even  Dr.  R.  DRUITT 
the  great  eulogizer  of  the  Light  Wines,  is  compelled  to 
confess  that  "Alcohol  is  a  mere  drug;  and  although  a 
constituent,  is  not  the  valuable  one,  in  Wine." 

The  salts  of  wine  are  also  the  salts  of  grapes,  and  in 
the  latter  exist  in  a  more  assimilable  form,  and  in  greater 
abundance. 

66.  On  looking  at  our  bodies,  we  are  struck  with  two 
kinds  of  work  that  are  being  done,  both  inextricably 


64.  What  is  Dr.  Hassal's  analysis  of  Tale  Ale  ?  IIow  many  elements  in 
ale  are  food  of  any  sort  ? 

C5.  What  is  Alcohol  in  Wine,  according  to  Dr.  Druitt  ?  What  are  the  val 
uable  constituents  in  Wine,  and  where  do  they  pre-exist  in  greater  abun 
dance  ? 

CO.  What  are  the  four  kinds  of  icork  done  by  the  body  ?  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  correlation  of  force  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  73 

associated  with  our  life.  (1.)  The  blood  and  juices  with 
in,  the  solid  limbs  and  tissues  we  feel,  the  breath  we  ex 
hale,  the  water  we  expel,  and  the  perspiration  which 
transudes  from  the  skin,  are  all  warm.  Heat  is  got  up 
in  the  system,  and  the  thermometer  tells  us  that,  in  the 
natural  state,  our  external  parts  are  at  98°  F.,  and  our 
circulating  stream  at  100°.  (2.)  This  warm-blood  is 
being  continually  sent  from  the  heart,  the  beating  life- 
pump  whose  strokes  we  can  feel  and  count,  through  all 
the  arteries  of  the  sj^stem,  to  every  cell  and  tissue  of 
the  living-house.  With  these  two  sorts  of  work,  or 
power-in-action,  we  perform  (3,)  external  work,  with  feet 
and  hands,  under  the  direction  of  the  Will ;  and,  there 
fore,  (4,)  Mental  work,  of  sensation,  feeling,  thought, 
and  volition.  How  these  forces  pass  from  one  form  to 
another,  —  become  translated,  as  it  were,  —  or  how  they 
are  correlated,  is  only  partly  known,  but  of  the  fact  it 
self  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever.  For  example,  a 
person  whose  heat  has  sunk  several  degrees,  or  whose 
body  has  not  been  nourished  for  days,  or  whose  frame 
has  been  wasted  by  fever  and  inflammation,  can  neither 
work  with  his  body,  nor  think  or  feel  with  his  brain ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  person  who  has  been  subjected 
to  intense  emotion  of  any  kind,  whether  of  pleasure  or 
of  pain,  is  incapable  of  much  physical  work.  The  great 
law  holds  good  that  all  labor  is  exhausting;  which 
simply  means  that  all  organic  force  is  transitory,  and  is 
continually  undergoing  change  or  transformation ;  and 
the  conclusion  is,  that  we  must  restore  the  old  conditions 
in  order  to  realize  fresh  force  or  power. 

67.  The  NATURE  of  the  machinery  or  organism  con 
cerned  in  this  fourfold  work  is  plain  enough,  though  it 


74  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPETIANCE. 

has  yet  many  secrets  and  processes  hidden  from  the  eye 
of  human  science.  (1.)  The  stomach,  for  example,  is  a 
primary  grate  where  are  prepared  the  fuel-food  for 
lighting,  and  the  nourisJiing-food  for  building-up.  The 
lungs  are  at  once  the  bellows  which  (by  inspiration) 
take  in  the  fresh  air  (or  oxygen),  for  oxidizing  the  car 
bon  and  hydrogen  of  the  food  and  tissues,  or  burning  it 
up ;  and  which  (by  expiration)  send  out  the  excess  of 
carbonic-acid  gas,  or  foul  air,  thus  serving  as  a  chimney 
for  the  perpetual  ventilation  of  the  house.  The  arterial 
system,  where  the  oxygen  meets  with  the  transformed 
food  and  tissues,  is  the  general/wrnace  of  the  body  ;  and, 
associated  with  this  system,  are  liver,  intestine,  kidneys, 
etc.,  which,  in  conjunction  with  skin  and  lungs,  are  the 
drains  and  purifiers  of  the  system  for  casting  forth  the 
waste,  effete,  or  poisonous  products  of  vital  changes. 

The  heat  evolved  in  these  changes  daily,  in  the  body 
of  a  healthy,  well-fed  adult,  is  probably  equal  to  the 
raising  of  5J  gallons  of  water  from  the  freezing  condi 
tion  to  the  boiling-point.  (2.)  The  great  central  pump 
of  the  Heart  is  a  congeries  of  muscles,  with  adapted 
valves,  for  forcing  the  pabulum  of  the  blood  through  the 
whole  body,  aided  by  other  contrivances.  At  each 
stroke  of  this  living-pump,  from  5  to  G  ounces  of  blood 
are  thrown  with  great  power  into  the  arterial  tubes  ;  and 
in  the  24  hours  of  the  day,  it  pumps  out  a  quantity, 
ranging  in  different  persons  from  14  to  20  tons !  It 

67.  What  is  the  machinery,  and  what  the  various  organisms,  correspond 
ing  to  the  four  sorts  of  work  ?  Which  is  the  grate,  and  which  the  furnace  of 
the  body?  What  organs  cast  out  dead  and  waste  matter?  What  is  the 
function  of  the  Heart  ?  How  much  blood  does  it  pump  out  daily  ?  What  is 


function  of  the  Heart: 

the  work  of  the  Nerves  ?    What  of  the  Brain  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  75 

has  been  reckoned  that  this  would  be  equal  to  carrying 
from  14  to  20  sacks  of  coal  to  the  top  of  the  London 
Monument !  As  the  blood  thus  courses  through  the 
body,  the  various  organs  and  tissues,  by  their  special 
affinities,  select  the  substances  .similar  to  themselves, 
and  are  thus  renewed  in  their  structure,  —  in  other  words, 
take  up  a  neiv  stock  of  force.  (3.)  With  this  renewed 
tissue,  bone,  muscle,  and  nerve,  external  work  is  accom 
plished.  The  bones  sustain  weight  and  carry  force  as 
levers  ;  the  muscles  contract  under  a  stimulus  ;  the  liga 
ments  Jiold  fast  by  the  cohesive  power  of  their  structural 
affinity  ;  and  so  internal,  mechanical  work  is  done,  and 
(4)  the  Nerves  illustrate  the  higher  forms  of  force,  as 
sociated  with  the  soul.  Like  telegraphs,  they  receive 
messages  and  they  transmit  telegrams.  They  convey  a 
stimulus  to  the  muscles,  and  other  organs,  partly  con 
trolling  them  and  partl}T  enabling  them  the  better  to  per 
form  their  function.  The  Brain  is  the  great  centre  where 
the  Sensory  Nerves  which  receive  messages,  and  the 
Motor  Nerves  that  convey  them,  meet  in  a  common 
sanctuary,  where  Emotion  is  engendered,  and  Thought 
emerges  into  consciousness. 

G8.  Now  it  will  be  plain,  on  a  little  reflection,  that  as 
all  icork  implies  the  expenditure  of  power,  and  as  power 
is,  like  matter,  always  ti  fixed  quantit}-,  so  the  various 
kinds  of  power  exhibited  in  the  life  of  a  human  being 
must  be  mutually  measurable  ;  that  is,  a  certain  quan 
tity  or  degree  of  one  power  can  be  changed  into  a  certain 


C8.  What  does  work  imply  and  involve  ?  Is  power  measurable,  and  how? 
What  is  the  common  standard  to  which  power  is  reducible  ?  What  is  the 
meaning  of  afoot-ton  1 


76  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

quantity  or  degree  of  another,  and  no  more.  Wood  of 
a  certain  texture,  for  instance,  or  coal  of  a  certain  com 
position,  are  known  to  give  out  a  fixed  quantity  of  heat, 
which  again  creates  a  fixed  quantity  of  steam,  or  elastic 
vapor,  which  in  turn  does  a  certain  amount  of  mechani 
cal  work,  and  no  more.  Each  condition  or  element  meas 
ures  the  other.  So  with  the  body.  The  food  (if  used) 
measures  the  heat  and  nutrition ;  this  the  work  done,  or 
capable  of  being  done,  whether  of  heart  or  nerves,  hand 
or  brain.  An  important  question  now  arises :  How 
can  the  very  varied  kinds  of  work  that  man  performs,  be 
measured  by  a  common  standard? — A  man  weighing 
150  Ibs.,  for  example,  works  for  3  J  hours  on  the  revolv 
ing  tread-wheel  of  a  Reformatory.  Although,  owing  to 
the  turning  round  of  the  wheel,  he  is  always  in  the  same 
spot  of  space,  his  ascending  motion  does  the  same  sort 
and  amount  of  work  that  would  have  been  had  he  taken 
so  many  steps  up  a  steep  mountain  side.  That  work,  if 
taken  to  the  foot  of  the  Mont  Blanc,  would  have  car 
ried  him  up  to  the  height  of  7,5GO  feet.  Now  this  work 
can  be  referred  to  the  standard  of  heat ;  being,  in  fact, 
chiefly  done  by  that  force.  It  has  been  found  that  so 
much  heat  as  will  raise  the  temperature  of  1  Ib.  of  water 
1°  F.,  if  directed  to  the  steam- work  of  an  engine,  will 
raise  one  pound  weight  of  anything  772  feet ;  or,  to  re 
verse  the  illustration,  will  lift  772  Ibs.  weight  one  foot 
upwards.  Hence  the  man  who  lifts  his  own  bodj^,  weigh 
ing  150  Ibs.,  7,560  feet,  has  really  done  work  equal  to 
raising  506  tons  of  2,240  Ibs.,  one  foot;  or,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  science,  he  has  done  506  foot-tons  of  work. 

G9.  To  take  up  the  old  illustration  of  the  monument. 
The  heat  which  would  raise  one  pound  of  iced  water  to 


IEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  77 

the  boiling-point  is  equal  to  62  foot-tons,  and  that  which 
would  so  raise  5J  imperial  gallons,  would,  as  steam,  lift 
3,412  "long"  tons,  one  foot  high;  or  hoist  170  sacks 
of  coals  of  200  pounds  each  to  the  top  of  the  monument 
(202  feet).*  So  a  man  weighing  150  Ibs.,  who  ascends 
that  Doric  column,  expends  13  J  foot-tons  of  power ; 
which,  since  a  perpendicular  ascent  is  twenty  times  harder 
than  motion  on  level  ground,  is  equal  to  a  walk  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile.  Putting,  then,  all  sorts  of  work 
together,  the  force  daily  generated  in  the  adult  body  is 
probabty,  at  its  smallest,  2,000  foot-tons  ;  in  its  medium, 
4,000 ;  at  its  greatest,  6,000,  which  is  equal  to  lifting 
from  10  to  20  long  tons  of  coal  to  the  top  of  the  monu 
ment! 

70.  Of  course,  the  whole  and  sole  proximate  source  of 
this  POWER  is  to  be  found  in  our  FOOD  ;  into  which  this 
force  was  put  by  Divine  Providence,  that  food  which 
"  cometh  out  of  the  earth,"  but  which  derives  its  energy 
from  the  sun's  rays,  interwoven  with  the  cells  and  struc 
ture  of  plants  during  the  natural  process  of  "  growth." 
Thus  as  the  solar  heat  which  passes  into  wood  is  given 
out  as  flame  and  caloric  in  the  boiling  of  the  kettle,  and 
reappears  as  steam,  or  elastic  vapor,  which  science  now 
harnesses  to  her  work-carriages,  and  compels  to  do  the 

*  The  floor  of  the  observatory  in  Bunker  Hill  Monument  is  of  almost  ex 
actly  the  same  height. 


60.  How  much  heat  would  lift  170  sacks  of  coals  to  the  top  of  the  monu 
ment  of  London  ?  How  much  power  does  a  man  of  150  Ibs.  weight  expend 
in  walking  to  the  top  of  that  column  ?  How  much  is  that  work  equal  to  in 
•walking  on  a  plain  ?  What  is  the  total  force  probably  generated,  daily,  in 
the  body  of  a  man  of  ordinary  size  and  activity  ?  What  is  the  minimum, 
and  what  the  maximum  ? 

70.  What  is  the  ultimate  source  of  power  ?    What  the  proximal e  ?    What 


78 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 


drudgery  of  muscle,  so  the  solar  forces  fixed  in  the  food, 
but  liberated  in  the  blood  by  the  action  of  oxygen,  re 
appear  as  the  heat  and  energy  of  the  human  frame.  A 
small  proportion,  say  one-tenth,  of  food  is  required  to  be 
nutritive,  containing  some  suitable  combination  of  nitro 
gen,  essential  to  all  living  structures  ;  but  the  bulk  of  it 
must  be  matters  of  an  oily,  saccharine  nature,  or  of  starch 
convertible  into  sugar.  The  following  tables,  modified 
from  those  of  Professor  Frankland,  will  throw  great 
light  upon  the  actual  worth  of  various  kinds  of  food,  and 
ought  utterly  and  forever  to  dissipate  the  ignorant  be 
lief  in  the  value  of  intoxicating  liquors  :  — 


I. 


WEIGHT  AND  COST  OF  FLESH-FORMING  FOOD  REQUIRED  TO 
FURNISH  HALF  AN  OUNCE  OF  NITROGEN,  THE  MINIMUM 
AMOUNT  NEEDED  IN  HEALTH. 


Weight  in 
Ounces. 

COS! 

Londc 

n. 

COST: 
Boston.* 

Heat  value  in, 
foot-tons. 

15 

8.   d 
0  3 

2,104 

20 

0  3 

k 

3,13-1 

40 

0  5 

3,236 

()>. 

0  0 

1,027 

1? 

0  7 

CG7 

l'2Q 

0  7 

4,700 

Rice         

50 

1  0 

7,304 

JJ  JJJ.                 

100 

1  0 

2,440 

328 

1  8 

5,563 

*  In  gold,  January,  1SG8,  a  shilling  sterling  is  twenty-four  cents,  and  a  pen 
ny,  two  cents. 


are  the  three  cheapest  sorts  of  food  as  flesh-formers  7  What  the  three  dearest  ? 
What  food  is  the  cheapest  source  of  power,  or  heat  ?  What  the  second  I 
What  the  two  dearest  foods  for  nutriment  ?  What  for  fuel  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 


79 


It  will  be  observed,  from  the  last  column,  that  many 
substances  which  are  of  special  value  as  nutriment  are 
less  so  as  fuel,  or  heat-generators,  and  the  reverse.  The 
next  table  concerns  the  total  force  value  measured  by 
the  power  of  generating  heat,  when  digested,  absorbed, 
and  oxidized. 

II. 

WEIGHT   AND   COST   OF    SUBSTANCES    REQUIRED    FOR    DOING 
4,000    FOOT-TONS    OF   WORK   IN   THE    BODY. 


Ibs.  weight. 

COST:  London. 

COST:  Boston. 

J5 

e.   d. 
0    4\ 

Fat  of  beef  (or  dripping)  

0    6 

§£ 

0    Cl- 

;•$ 

0    (• 

I* 

0  111 

1    2 

1>. 

1    3 

laj 

1    3s- 

1    0 

ii 

1    71 

4«5 

3    9 

M 

28    0 

71.  These  calculations  were  based  upon  the  experi 
ment  of  burning  these  various  substances  in  an  artificial 
retort,  and  measuring  the  heat ;  but  in  ale  and  beer  many 
things  exist  which  are  not  absorbed  by  the  body,  or 
burnt  in  the  blood,  —  such  as  gum,  hops,  and  alcohol. 
But  assuming,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  alcohol, 
narcotic  hop,  and  gummy  residue  of  the  beers,  are  really 


71.  What  is  the  cost  and  value  of  beers  ?    Is  gum  digestible  1 


80  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

consumed  in  the  body,  find  not  eliminated,*  what,  accord 
ing  to  the  tables  of  Prof.  FRANKLAND,  would  be  the 
value  of  such  hypothetical  food  as  compared  with  natural 
sources  of  power  ? 

Guinness'  Stout,  Gi  bottles  at  lOd.  each,  would  cost  5s.  2d. 
Bass'  Ale  9  bottles  at  lOd.  each,  will  cost  7s.  Gel. 

And  give  out  of  heat  3.28 

So  that,  were  the  constituents  of  beers  ever  so  digesti 
ble,  a  pound  of  dripping  at  9d.  would  exceed  in  value  9 
pints  of  Bass's  best  ale,  costing  7s.  Gd. ;  and  3d.  worth  of 
oatcakes  or  porridge  would  generate  more  power  than 
7  pints  of  "Guinness*  Stout"  !  Though  eating  beef, 
ham,  and  mutton,  for  the  production  of  "  force,"  is  a 
very  wasteful  method  of  living,  it  is  economy  itself  com 
pared  with  the  extravagant  and  (after  all)  utterly  delu 
sive  plan  of  gaining  power  from  pale  ale,  or  brown 
stout.  This,  surely,  is  a  demonstration  that  the  drinker 
"  pays  too  dear  for  his  whistle." 

Sir  BENJAMIN  BRODIE,  F.R.S.,  Surgeon  to  Queen  Vic 
toria,  after  a  long  life  of  experience,  gives,  in  his  "  Psy 
chological  Inquiries,"  his  final  verdict  thus  :  — 

"Alcohol  removes  the  uneasy  feeling  and  the  inability  of  ex 
ertion  which  the  want  of  sleep  occasions.  But  the  relief  is 

*  The  authorities  for  the  statement  that  ffiimis  not  food  are  the  following:  — 
French's  Handworterbuch,  iii.  Blondot's  Traite  de  la  Digestion,  p.  297. 
Simon's  Archiv.  i.  Gmelin's  J'erdauung  nach  Versuchen,i\.  Boussingault,  in 
Annal.  de  Chcmie,Zd  scr.  xviii.  Lehmann,  iii.  Of  50  grains  of  gum  in  mixture, 
40  grains  were  found  in  the  excrement,  undigested.  We  know  the  old  travel 
ler's  tale  of  persons  in  the  Sahara  living  fur  days  on  gum ;  just  as  we  know 
of  the  Indians,  of  Orinoco,  living  for  weeks  on  clay.  Neither  case  applies 
to  the  ordinary  circumstances  of  man;  for  if  the  gastric  juice  docs  partly 
dissolve  gum  when  men  are  starving,  and  it  has  nothing  else  to  digest,  ex 
periments  clearly  prove  that  it  will  not  do  so  when  it  has  anything  letter  to 
operate  upon. 


TEXT- BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  81 

only  temporary.  Stimulants  do  not  create  nervous  power ;  they 
merely  enable  you,  as  it  were,  to  use  iip  that  which  is  left,  and 
then  they  leave  you  more  in  need  of  rest  than  before."  (i.,  p.  143.) 

Baron  LIEBIG  says  of  the  drinker :  — 

"  SPIRITS,  by  their  action  on  the  nerves,  enable  him  to  make 
up  deficient  power  at  the  expense  of  his  body.  He  consumes  his 
capital  instead  of  his  interest." 

Prof.  PEREIRA,  in  his  "Treatise  on  Food"  (1843), 
says : — 

"  Ales  are  not  fitted  for  ordinary  use,  on  account  of  their  IN 
TOXICATING  and  STUPEFYING  qualities." 

Dr.  CHAS.  WILSON,  in  his  "Pathology  of  Drunken 
ness"  (Edinburgh,  1855),  says:  — 

"  No  circumstances  of  ordinary  life  can  render  even  the  mod 
erate  use  of  intoxicating  fluids  either  beneficial  or  necessary, 
or  even  innocuous." 

Dr.  E.  SMITH,  in  his  "Practical  Dietary"  (1865), 
says : — 

"The  proper  place  for  these  compounds  is  as  Medicines;  but 
not  as  Foods ;  and  they  should  not  find  any  place  in  mere  die 
tetic  arrangements."  (p.  313.) 

Dr.  H.  R.  MADDEN  thus  expresses  himself  in  an 
elaborate  Essay  on  "  Stimulating  Drinks  "  (London, 
1847):  — 

"Alcohol  is  not  the  natural  stimulus  to  any  of  our  organs, 
and  hence  functions  performed,  in  consequence  of  its  application, 
tend  to  debilitate  the  organ  acted  upon. 

"Alcohol  is  incapable  of  being  assimilated,  or  converted,  into 
any  organic  proximate  principle,  and  hence  cannot  be  consid 
ered  nutritious. 

"  The  strength  experienced  after  tho  use  of  alcohol  is  not 


82  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

new  strength  added  to  the  system,  but  is  manifested  by  calling 
into  exercise  the  nervous  energy  pre-existing. 

"The  ultimate  exhausting  effects  of  alcohol,  owing  to  its  stim 
ulant  properties,  produce  an  unnatural  susceptibility  to  morbid 
action  in  all  the  organs,  and  this,  with  the  plethora  superinduced, 
becomes  a  fertile  source  of  disease. 

"A  person  who  habitually  exerts  himself  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  require  the  daily  use  of  stimulants  to  ward  off  exhaustion, 
may  be  compared  to  a  machine  working  under  high  pressure.  He 
will  become  much  more  obnoxious  to  the  causes  of  disease,  and 
will  certainly  break  down  sooner  than  he  would  have  done  under 
more  favorable  circumstances. 

"  The  more  frequently  alcohol  is  had  recourse  to  for  the  pur 
pose  of  overcoming  feelings  of  debility,  the  more  it,  will  be  re 
quired,  and,  by  constant  repetition,  a  period  is  at  length  reached 
when  it  cannot  be  foregone,  unless  reaction  is  simultaneously 
brought  about  by  a  temporary  total  change  of  the  habits  of 
life. 

"  Owing  to  the  above  facts,  I  conclude  that  the  DAILY  USE  OF 

STIMULANTS  IS  INDEFENSIBLE  UNDER  ANY  KNOWN  CIRCUM 
STANCES.  " 

72.  The  author  of  "  The  Chemistry  of  Common  Life," 
•who  was  no  physiologist,  put  forth  the  notion,  that  if 
alcohol  was  not  direct  food,  it  aided  the  digestion  and 
absorption  of  food.  But  this  is  not  the  fact.  As  Pro 
fessors  Todd  and  Bowman  justly  state,  in  their  great 
work  on  Physiology,  the  essential  action  of  alcohol  on 
animal  tissue  is  such,  that  if  a  glass  of  grog  were  taken 
after  a  mutton-chop,  and  were  kept  in  the  stomach,  the 
meat  would  never  be  digested.  Luckily  for  the  drinker, 
the  spirit,  by  the  law  named  in  §  60,  mixes  with  the 
water  of  the  blood,  and  passes  on  with  the  current  of 
the  circulation,  and  thus,  after  delaying  digestion,  allows 

72.  Does  alcohol  aid  digestion  ?  Whose  experiments  show  that  it  retards 
digestion? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  83 

fresh  supplies  of  gastric  juice  to  perform  that  function. 
The  recent  experiments  of  Dr.  Henry  Munroe,  of  Hull, 
published  in  the  London  "  Medical  Journal,"  may  be 
here  summarized,  as  showing  that  the  same  essential 
tendency  to  retard  digestion  is  common  to  all  forms  of 
alcoholics. 


Finely  Minced 
Hecf. 

2(1  Hour. 

4th  Hour. 

6th  Hour. 

8th  Hour. 

10th  Hour. 

I. 

Gastric  juice 
and  tenter. 

Beef 

opaque. 

Digesting  & 
separating. 

Beef  much 
lessened. 

Broken  up 
into  shreds. 

Dissolved 
like  soup. 

ii. 

Gastric  juice 
with  alcohol. 

Xo  altera 
tion  percep 
tible. 

Slightly 
opaque,  but 
beef  un 
changed. 

Slight  coat 
ing  on  beef. 

Xo  visible 
change. 

Solid  on 
cooling. 
Pcpsine 
precipi 
tated. 

III. 

Gastric  juice 
and  pale  ale. 

No 
change. 

Cloudy, 
with  fur  on 
beef. 

Beef  partly 
loosened. 

No  further 
change. 

No  diges 
tion.  Pep- 
sine  pre 
cipitated. 

1\\c  pep  sine  is  the  digestive  ferment,  which  is  thus  demonstrated  to  hare 
its  function  obstructed  so  long  as  any  alcohol  remains  in  the  stomach. 


IV. 

tf 


73.  A  poison  may  be  defined  to  be,  "  A  substance, 
which,  brought  into  contact  with  the  skin,  mucous  sur 
faces,  nerves,  blood  cells,  or  other  organs  of  man,  alters 
their  normal  state,  by  virtue  of  some  special  inherent 
quality."  Such  a  disturbance  means,  first,  some  degree 
of  altered  structure,  temporary  or  permanent ;  and,  sec 
ond,  a  consequent  altered  function,  which  may  be  either 

73.  Define  a  poison.  Is  it  a  notion  of  quality  or  quantity  ?  What  are  the 
three  classes  of  poisons  ?  How  arc  they  distinguished  ?  In  which  class  do 
ywi  rank  tvbftcco  and  alcohol  f 


84  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

an  increased,  or  a  lowered  action.  Hence,  'Poisons' 
are  usually  classed  under  three  general  heads  :  as  (I.) 
Irritant,  or  acrid  poisons,  which  inflame  and  tend  to  de 
stroy  the  living  tissue ;  (II.)  Narcotics  or  sedatives, 
•which  lessen  the  action  of  the  nerves,  and,  if  taken  in 
sufficient  quantity,  destroy  action  and  feeling ;  (III.) 
Narcotico-acrids,  which  possess  the  double  action  of  both 
classes,  according  to  their  dose  or  concentration.  Ar 
senic,  Spanish-fly,  jalap,  and  sulphuric  acid  are  examples 
of  the  first  class  ;  opium,  prussic  acid,  and  chloroform,  of 
the  second  ;  deadly  night-shade,  tobacco,  strychnine,  and 
alcohol,  of  the  third.  On  this  point,  Orfila,  Taylor, 
Christison,  and  all  toxicologists  are  agreed. 

74.  The  slightest  thought  will  induce  the  belief,  that 
the  continued  use  of  any  one  of  these  powerful  agents, 
however  disguised  or  diluted,  so  long  as  it  produces  a  sen 
sible  effect  at  all  (and  who  would  take  it  if  it  did  not?), 
must  tend  to  alter  the  natural  condition  of  the  bodily 
organs,  and  to  produce  effects  that,  sooner  or  later,will  tell 
sensibly  upon  human  life.     In  the  preceding  part  of  this 
Text-Book,  it  has  been  shown,  by  a  series  of  facts,  that 
health,  strength,  warmth,  endurance,  and  vital  power,  are 
all  best  upheld  by  abstinence  from  alcoholics,  and  that 
the  moderate  use  of  such  liquors  actually  and  sensibly 
increases  mortality.     This  proves,  by  experience,  that 
alcohol  is  not  food,  but  is  poison. 

75.  Drs.  Simon  and  Thudichum,  of  London,  have  re- 


74.  Is  it  probable  that  any  continued  use  of  poisons  can  be  harmless  ? 
What  facts  contradict  the  notion  ? 

75.  State  the  fallacy  of  the  definition  that  alcohol  is  food.    What  does  it 
assume,  and  what  omit  1    Give  the  confession  of  Dr.  Thudichum. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  85 

cently  attempted,  on  theoretical  grounds,  to  include  al 
cohol  in  a  partial  definition  of  food.  They  assume  that 
alcohol  is  decomposed  in  the  body  to  some  extent,  and 
gives  out  heat.  This  is  to  beg  the  definition  as  well  as 
the  fact.  For  even  if  alcohol  were  burnt  in  the  body, 
and  made  the  body  warmer  instead  of  colder,  it  would 
still  be  true  that,  before  it  ivas  decomposed,  it  acted  as  a 
poison  upon  blood  and  tissues.  Now,  true  food  must 
not  only  warm  and  nourish,  but  must  do  so  without 
burning  and  destroying.  Food  must  answer  the  end  of 
food  innocently,  which  alcohol  does  not.  A  true  defini 
tion  of  food  will  give,  not  only  the  chemical  action,  but 
the  physiological  relation.  After  all  his  pleas  and  apol 
ogies,  Dr.  Thudichum  is  compelled  to  make  the  fatal 
concession  concerning  alcoholics :  "  Whether  they  are 
beneficially  consumed,  or  otherwise,  must  remain  for  fu 
ture  research  to  determine."  Science  has  reached  no 
conclusion  adverse  to  experience. 

7G.  Some  of  the  leading  pl^siologists  of  the  day  — 
such  as  Prof.  Lallemand,  Dr.  King  Chambers,  and  Dr. 
Edward  Smith  —  incline  to  the  view  that  the  main  action 
of  alcohol  is  to  depress  vitality  by  its  narcotic  action 
upon  the  nerves  and  brain.  This  view,  however,  should 
be  held  in  connection  with  the  fact,  that  all  vital  organs 
resist  the  first  blows  of  a  narcotic  as  truly  as  of  an  acrid 
agent ;  whence  it  follows  that  when  a  narcotic  is  given 
in  small  doses,  the  reaction  will  resemble  the  symptoms 
commonly  ascribed  to  a  "  stimulant,"  or  goad.  It  is  of 


70.  What  views  are  held  by  some  leading  physiologists  as  to  the  exclusive 
Action  of  Alcohol?  Can  a  narcotic  be  also  regarded  as  a  stimulant?  Do 
stimulants  give  "  force,"  or  "  expend  "  it  f 


86  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

little  moment  what  the  agent  is  called,  so  long  as  the 
fact  is  perceived  that  it  does  not  give,  but  calls  out  and 
wastes  power.  A  stimulant  is  not  the  corn  that  strength 
ens  the  horse,  but  the  whip  or  spur  that  induces  the  animal 
rapidly  to  expend  its  strength.  It  is  not  the  new  cash 
which  accrues  to  a  man  on  the  death  of  a  rich  relative, 
but  the  money  which  the  lawyer  has  borrowed  for  you 
by  mortgaging  your  old  farm.  It  will  all  have  to  be 
paid  back  again,  sometimes  with  interest  and  costs.  It 
now  remains  to  trace  the  chief  pathological  results  of  the 
use  of  alcohol. 

Two  series  of  experiments  performed  with  Bourbon 
whiskey  and  sherry  wine  in  April,  1867,  and  reported  in 
the  "  Chicago  Medical  Journal,"  are  instructive.  The 
•whiskey  was  mixed  with  sugared  water,  which  was  an 
error,  because  sugar  tends  to  raise  the  temperature,  and 
thus  to  confuse  the  experiment.  We  record  the  results  :  — 

Temperature         Pulse  per 
in  mouth.  miii. 

Before  whiskey,  drank  at  10.30,  p.  M.,  983°  83 

After^oz. "  "     "  11.00,     "  972°  85 

1  "  "      "  11.30,     "  97^°  89 

"  "  "      "  12.30,  A.M.,  974°  85 

"  The  sphygmograph  shows,  that  while  the  number  of 
beats  were  increased  from  83  to  89  per  minute  during 
the  first  hour,  the  force  of  the  heart  and  pulsations  ivas 
weakened,  whence  a  congestion  of  the  venous  radicles 
would  ensue." 

77.  This  substance  is  so  virulent  a  poison  that  it  can 
be  taken  only  in  the  diluted  form  of  ardent  spirits,  a 

77.  How  does  Alcohol  produce  sudden  deatht    "What  relation  does  it  bear 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  87 

teaspoonful  of  which  has  often  destroyed  the  life  of  a 
child,  and  from  half  a  pint  to  a  pint  that  of  men  unac 
customed  to  its  use.*  It  produces  death  in  such  cases 
by  nervous  shock,  not  very  dissimilar  to  that  of  a  blow 
on  some  susceptible  centre,  like  the  ganglionic  nerves  of 
the  stomach.  As  consumed  in  wines,  cider,  and  beer, 
tho  violent  acridity  of  the  poison  is  sheathed  in  ten  or 
twelve  times  its  bulk  of  water.  The  experiments  of  Dr. 
Ed.  Smith,  F.R.S.,  published  in  the  "Philosophical 
Transactions"  for  1859,  prove  that  alcohol  "  interferes 
with  alimentation"  and  "  its  power  to  lessen  the  sali 
vary  secretion  impedes  the  due  digestion  of  starch." 

"When  spirituous  liquors  are  introduced  into  the 
stomach,"  sa}*s  Dr.  Aitken,  in  his  "  Practice  of  Medicine  " 
(5th  Edit.),  "  they  tend  to  coagulate,  in  the  first  instance, 
all  albuminous  articles  of  food  or  fluid  with  which  they 
coine  in  contact ;  as  an  irritant  they  stimulate  the  gland 
ular  secretions  from  the  mucous  membrane,  and  ulti 
mately  lead  to  permanent  congestion  of  the  vessels  and  to 
thickening  of  the  gastric  tissues.  In  these  effects  it  is 
impossible  not  to  recognize  the  operation  of  an  agent 
most  pernicious  in  its  ultimate  results.  The  coagula 
tion  is  very  different  from  that  effected  by  the  gastric 
fluids,  and  tends  to  render  the  articles  more  difficult  of 
solution  by  the  gastric  juice."  "  Even  diluted,  in  the 

*  Oesterlin  (HanclbucJt  der  Heilmittettehre,  1855)  records  the  case  of  a  child, 
li  years  old,  who  had  two  table-spoonfuls  of  brandy  (which  is  half  water) 
given  to  soothe  it.  Bloody  ilux,  convulsions,  lockjaw,  and  death  in  nine 
hours,  followed.  Roesch  (Henke's  Zeitschrift,  1850)  gives  a  case  where  two 
table-spoonfuls  of  brandy,  taken  at  sips,  proved  iatal  to  a  healthy  girl  of  4 
years  of  age,  in  spite  of  medical  aid. 

to  alimentation?     Give  Dr.  Aitkcn's  explanation  of  the  effect  of  Alcoho- 


88  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE . 

form  of  beer  or  wine,"  says  Dr.  Lankester,*  F.R.S., 
"  it  is  found  to  act  injuriously  on  the  delicate  membranes 
of  the  stomach  and  other  digestive  organs."  f  "  When 
taken  in  large  quantities  in  any  of  the  above  forms,  it 
acts  most  injuriously  on  the  stomach,  liver,  brain,  heart, 
and  other  organs  of  the  body.  ...  It  is  found  to 
destroy  the  quality  of  the  blood,  to  congest  the  mem 
branes  of  the  brain,  to  produce  incurable  affections  of  the 
liver  and  kidneys,  and  to  effect  changes  in  the  muscular 
structure  of  the  heart,  the  result  of  all  of  which  are 
painful  and  lingering  diseases,  or  sudden  death."  J 

Another  result,  even  when  positive  disease  itself  is  not 
generated,  is  to  mask  the  symptoms  of  disease  pro 
duced  by  other  causes,  to  frustrate  the  aims  of  proper 
treatment,  and  to  set  the  physician's  skill  at  defiance. 
"  So  destructive,"  adds  Dr.  Lankester,  "  is  this  agent, 
on  the  whole  body,  that  large  numbers  of  persons  avoid 
its  use  altogether,  and  thus  have  successfully  demon 
strated  that  the  use  of  this  agent  is  not  necessary  to 
health."  The  consequence  of  this  again  is,  that  while 
the  abstainer  has  not  half  the  sickness  of  the  moderate 
drinker,  the  diseases  to  which  he  is  subject  are  much 
more  amenable  to  treatment,  and  require  less  violent 
remedies. 

*  The  inflammatory  appearance  of  the  drinker's  stomach  has  been  fre 
quently  exhibited  in  the'plates  published  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Delavan,  illustrating 
cases  supplied  by  the  late  Dr.  bewail,  President  of  the  American  Medical 
Institute.  See  Dr.  Nott's  "  Lectures,"  and  Dr.  Lees'  "  Illustrated  History 
of  Alcohol." 

t  "  School  Manual  of  Health."    London,  1SG8.  J  Ibid. 


upon  the  food  and  the  stomach.    What  is  the  dictum  of  Dr.  Lankcetcrf 
How  does  Alcohol  act  in  regard  to  disease  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  89 

78.  Alcohol,  in  even  moderate  closes,  if  continued, 
sensibly  alters  the  character  of  the  blood.  This  has 
been  shown  by  a  series  of  experiments  and  microscopic 
observations,  instituted  by  Schultz,  Virchow,  Boecker, 
and  others.  Prof.  Schultz  (Berlin,  1842)  says:  — 
"  Alcohol  stimulates  the  vesicles  to  an  increased  and 
unnatural  contraction,  which  deprives  them  of  coloring 
matter,  and  hurries  them  on  to  the  last  stage  of  develop 
ment,  i.  c.,  induces  their  premature  death,  —  not  sud 
denly,  but  gradually,  and  more  or  less  according  to  the 
quantity  of  alcohol  used.  The  pale  vesicles  lose  all 
vital  resistance,  less  oxygen  being  absorbed,  and  less 
carbon  being  carried  out,  and  the  plasma  itself  becomes 
an  irritant  to  the  circulatory  and  secreting  organs." 
This  is  the  reason  why  alcoholized  blood  cannot  suitably 
nourish  the  body,  and  how  especially  it  is  unlit  to  pro 
mote  the  healing  of  wounds  and  inflamed  parts.  Vir 
chow  (1853)  describes,  as  the  result  of  his  experiments 
in  the  use  of  beer,  "  A  decrease  of  water  (the  vehicle 
of  vitality)  ;  an  increase  of  fibrin,  and  of  colored  clot, 
which  reddened  much  less  rapidly  on  exposure  to  the' 
air  than  normal  blood,  and  contained  many  more  of  the 
pale  blood-discs  than  is  usual  in  perfect  health,  which 
may  be  regarded  as  defunct  bodies,  no  longer  capable 
of  their  original  duty,  that  of  absorbing  oxygen."  * 

Boecker  (1854)  argues  that  this  is  evidence  of  par 
tially  effete  matter  kept  in  the  blood.  His  experiments 

*  Dr.  Moleschott  (Miiller's  Archiv.)  lias  shown  that  when  the  liver  is  cut 


78.  "Whose  experiments  clearly  show  the  influence  of  Alcohol  upon  the 
blood?  State  the  results  arrived  at  by  Prof.  Schultz;  and  the  inference  as 
respects  wounds.  Give  the  verdict  of  Prof.  Virchow,  as  to  effects  of  beer; 
of  Dr.  Boecker,  and  the  inferences.  What  modifies,  or  limits,  the  evils  of 


90 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


with  Rhenish  wine  had  the  effect  of  largely  lessening  the 
amount  of  carbonic  acid  breathed  out,  and  stopping  the 
excretion  of  earthy  phosphates,  thus  retaining  ashes  in 
the  living  house  and  stopping  ventilation.  As  Dr.  King 
Chambers  saj^s,  "There  is  a  general  resemblance  be 
tween  these  experiments  and  those  with  pure  spirit, 
modified  apparently  in  close  proportion  to  the  smaller 
quantity  of  alcohol  and  to  the  amount  of  the  antagonis 
tic  agent,  water,  therein  absorbed. "  This  is  an  im- 

out  of  frogs  they  lose  their  power  of  breathing  out  carbonic-acid  (foul  air), 
and  absorbing  oxygen  (fresh  air),  in  proportion  as  these  cloudy  blood  discs 
increase.  For  particulars  of  experiments,  see  "  Works  of  Dr.  Lees,"  vols. 
i.  and  iii.  The  following  wood-cuts  rudely  show  the  alteration  produced  in 
blood  by  the  action  of  alcohol,  so  far  as  form  is  concerned. 


Fig.  1.  Blood  corpuscles:  some  with  darkened  centres,  owing  to  the 
focal  point  at  which  they  are  seen ;  others  in  rolls  indicative  of  slight  in 
flammation. 

Fig.  2.  Blood  corpuscles  altered  from  their  natural  shape  by  the  action  of 
sherry  wine  or  diluted  alcohol  (~50  diameters). 


alcoholic  liquors  ?    What  is  the  latest  alcoholic  curse,  and  what  constitutes 
its  worst  evil  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  91 

portant  truth.  All  alcoholic  liquors  are  bad  in  the 
degree  in  ivhich  they  contain  alcohol;  the  heavier  or  more 
concentrated,  the  worse  they  are.  Wines,  beers,  or 
ciders,  are  but  alcohol  diluted  and  flavored  differently. 
The  last  deadly  agent  of  intemperance,  madness,  and 
disease  introduced  into  France,  absinthe,  owes  its 
worst  effects  simply  to  the  strength  of  its  alcohol.  No 
possible  drugs  or  adulteration  can  be  so  bad  as  this  es 
sential  and  characteristic  element. 

79.  "  It  is  shown  by  abundant  testimony,"  says  Dr. 
Aitken,  "  that  from  excessive  drinking  the  blood  be 
comes  surcharged  with  unchanged  and  unused  material, 
and  contains  at  least  thirty  per  cent,  more  of  carbon  than 
in  the  normal  state.  The  order  of  events  by  which  this 
comes  about  is  somewhat  as  follows :  Alcohol  is 
directly  absorbed  by  the  blood-vessels  without  under 
going  any  change.  Part  of  it  is  eliminated  very  slowly 
as  alcohol  by  the  lungs  [and  skin],  by  the  liver,  and  by 
the  kidneys,  but  appears  to  tarry  in  largest  amount  in 
the  liver  and  the  brain  ;  *  another  portion  is  [supposed  to 
be]  decomposed.  [If  so]  its  hydrogen  enters  into  combi 
nation  with  oxygen,  which,  with  acetic  acid  [not  yet  de 
tected,  however,  if  produced],  carbonic  acid,  and  water 
are  formed.  Oxygen  is  thus  diverted  from  its  proper 
function,  the  exhalation  of  carbonic  acid  at  the  lungs  is 

*  Dr.  Percy,  and  the  French  experimenters,  made  this  assertion  on  very 
good  grounds,  but  Schulinus  has  recently  performed  experiments,  in  which 
he  seems  to  have  proved  that  the  blood  of  drinkers  contained  as  large  a  per 
centage  of  alcohol  as  any  other  part. 


79.  What  is  the  result  of  excessive  and  continued  drinking?    In  what  or 
der  do  the  effects  come  ?    How  does  Alcohol  rob  the  blood  of  oxygen  1 


92  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

diminished  both  absolutely  and  relatively,  and  less  urea 
is  excreted  by  the  kidneys.  All  the  evidence,  therefore, 
points  to  alcohol  as  causing  the  retention  of  substances 
which  ought  to  be  eliminated  [i.  e.,  cast  out]  ;  and  [the 
effect  of]  this  retention  of  effete  [or  waste]  matter  is 
still  more  intensified  by  the  stimulant  action  of  alcohol 
[in]  increasing  for  a  limited  period  the  frequency  of  func 
tional  acts,  followed  as  it  is  by  a  corresponding  depression 
of  the  nervous  S3rslem.  "  * 

Professor  Lallemand  also  observes,  that  "  alcoholized 
blood  contains,  during  life  and  after  death,  a  great  num 
ber  of  free  fatty  globules,  visible  even  by  the  naked  eye. 
The  pathological  alterations  are :  very  vivid  inflamma 
tion  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach ;  accumu 
lation  of  blood  in  the  right  chamber  of  the  heart  and 
the  large  veins  ;  congestion  of  the  membranes  (meninges) 
covering  the  brain  ;  and  especially  of  the  lungs."  ("  Con 
clusions  "  J.  K.)  Lecanu  found  in  a  drunkard's  blood 
as  much  as  117  parts  of  fat  in  1,000  parts ;  the  highest 
healthy  proportion  being  8J  parts,  and  the  usual  3  only  ! 
Hence,  as  Dr.  King  Chambers  remarks,  "Alcohol  is 
really  the  most  ungenerous  diet  there  is.  It  impoverishes 
the  blood,  and  there  is  no  surer  road  to  that  degeneration 
of  muscular  fibre  so  much  to  be  feared.  Three-quarters 
of  the  chronic  illnesses  which  the  medical  man  has  to 
treat  are  occasioned  by  this  disease  !  In  Heart-disease  it 

*  "  Practice  of  Medicine,"  5th  edition.    London,  18G8.    This  is  the  old  doc 
trine  taught  by  Dr.  Lees,  that  "  Alcohol  robs  the  blood  of  oxygen." 


Give  Lallemand's  testimony.    Explain  its  relation  to  fatfy  degeneration 
nnd  heart  disease. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  93 

is  especially  hurtful,  by  quickening  the  beat,  causing 
capillary  congestion,  and  irregular  circulation,  and  thus 
mechanically  inducing  dilatation  of  the  cavities."  In 
fact,  alcohol  seems  to  produce  the  peculiar  condition  of 
the  tissues  called  "  fatty  degeneration,"  more  than  any 
other  agent  known. 

80.  The  influence  of  alcohol  upon  the  blood  is  strik 
ingly  exhibited  in  its  effect  upon  the  milk  of  suckling 
mothers.  "  Alcohols,"  sa3^s  Dr.  Ed.  Smith,  "  are  largely 
used  by  many  persons  in  the  belief  that  they  support  the 
system  and  maintain  the  supply  of  milk  for  the  infant ; 
but  this  is  a  serious  error,  and  is  not  an  unfrequent  cause 
of  fits  and  emaciation  in  the  child."  *  The  "  Newcastle 
Express"  (England)  some  time  ago  reported  the  pro 
ceedings  at  an  inquest  at  Monkwearmouth,  where  the 
surgeon  stated  that  the  child  "labored  under  chronic 
inflammation  of  the  bowels,  and  the  coroner  said  there 
was  no  doubt  the  child  had  died  from  convulsions  aris 
ing  from  inflammation  produced  by  taking  the  alcohol  in 
the  mother's  milk."  Sir  A.  Carlisle,  the  celebrated  sur 
geon,  said  in  1814,  of  fermented  liquors,  "  The  next  in 
order  of  mischief  is  their  employment  by  nurses,  a  com 
mon  occasion  of  dropsy  in  the  brain  in  infants.  I  doubt 
much  whether  the  future  moral  habits,  the  temper  and 
intellectual  propensities,  are  not  greatly  influenced  by 
the  early  effects  of  fermented  liquors  upon  the  brain  and 

*  "  Practical  Dietary,"  London,  18G5,  p.  162. 


80.  Does  Alcohol  pass  into  the  milk  of  mothers?  What  are  the  conse 
quences  upon  the  sucking  child?  Give  the  testimony  of  Drs.  Smith,  Carl 
isle  and  Inmau.  How  docs  it  alter  the  constituents  of  milk  ? 


94  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

sensorial  organs,"  Dr.  Inman,  of  Liverpool,  in  his 
"  New  Theory  of  Disease  "(1861),  admits  that,  "  through 
the  influence  of  lactation,  children  have  suffered  severely 
from  diarrhoea,  vomiting,  and  convulsions.  I  have 
known  a  glass  of  whiskey  toddy,  taken  by  the  mother, 
produce  sickness  and  indigestion  in  the  child  24  hours 
thereafter"  (p.  44).  On  the  analysis  of  the  milk  of 
the  same  woman,  a  few  hours  before  and  after  the  use 
of  a  pint  of  beer,  it  has  been  found  that  the  alcohol 
increases  the  proportion  of  water,  and  diminishes  that 
of  the  caseine  or  curd,  which  is  the  nourishing  element ; 
and  that  the  alcohol  is  very  perceptible  in  the  milk. 

81.  Among  the  conclusions  from  the  experiments  of 
Lallemand,  Perrin,  and  Dnroy  (Role  die  Alcool,  I860), 
are  some  which  show  the  results  of  the  action  of  alco 
hol  both  upon  the  blood  and  nervous  system,  and  prove 
that  moderate  excitement  is  simply  a  lower  degree  of  the 
same  kind  of  abnormal  stimulation  which  is  known  as 
inebriation,  and  that  alcohol  never  gives  force ,  but  merely 
wastes  it. 

"B.  The  ingestion  of  alcohol  produces  upon  animals  an  in 
toxication  that  is  marked  by  a  progressive  series  of  functional 
disturbances  and  alterations,  the  intensity  of  which  corresponds 
with  the  quantity  of  alcohol  absorbed. 

"  C.  It  manifests  itself  at  first  by  a  general  excitement;  but, 
by  and  by,  the  respiration  and  circulation  are  relaxed,  and  the 
temperature  lowered. 

*'  D.  Muscular  power  is  weakened  and  extinguished;  beginning 
at  the  extremities. 


81.  What  celebrated  Frenchmen  made  experiments  on  Alcohol?  State 
their  chief  conclusions.  B.  C.  D.  K.  II.  T.  U.  V.  X;  what  is  the  inference 
irom  this  last  ?  What  from  tho  whole  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  95 

"K.  The  pathological  alterations  are  :  very  vivid  inflamma 
tion  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach;  the  accumula 
tion  of  the  blood  in  the  right  chamber  of  the  heart  and  the 
large  veins ;  congestion  of  the  meninges,  and  especially  of  the 
lungs. 

"K.  We  never  found,  in  either  the  blood  or  tissues,  any  of  the 
derivatives  of  alcohol. 

"  T.  Alcohol  is  rejected  from  the  vital  economy  by  divers 
systems  of  elimination :  by  the  lungs,  the  skin,  and  the  kid- 
neys. 

"U.  These  organs  are  found  to  eliminate  alcohol  after  the  in- 
gestion  of  doses  very  small. 

"  V.  The  elimination  lasts  many  hours,  even  after  an  ingestion 
very  moderate.  The  kiduejrs  continue  the  longest  to  reject. 

"X.  Aldehyde  [a  derivative  of  alcohol],  when  introduced  into 
the  stomach,  is  readily  found  in  the  blood. 

"  These  facts  establish,  from  a  physiological  point  of  view, 
a  line  of  demarcation  between  alcohol  and  foods.  Foods  restore 
the  forces,  without  the  organism  betraying,  by  disturbed  func 
tions,  or  by  outward  agitation,  the  labor  of  reparation,  which  is 
accomplished  silently  in  the  ivoof  of  the  tissues.  Alcohol,  on  the 
other  hand,  immediately  provokes,  even  in  a  moderate  close,  an 
excitement  which  extends  through  the  entire  economy." 

82.  Dr.  T.  K.  CHAMBERS,  Hon.  Physician  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  says  :  — 

"It  is  clear  that  we  must  cease  to  regard  alcohol  as  in  any 
sense  an  aliment,  inasmuch  as  it  goes  out  as  it  went  in,  and  does 
not,  so  far  as  we  know,  leave  any  of  its  substance  behind  it. 
It  remains  for  some  hours  in  the  body,  and  exerts  in  that  time 
a  powerful  influence.  What  is  that  influence,  and  over  what 
tissues  is  it  exerted?  *  A  stimulant  to  the  nervous  system.'  On 


82.  What  is  a  stimulant  to  the  nervous  system?    Give  the  views  of  Dr. 
Chambers. 


96  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

the  nervous  system,  doubtless  and  especially  on  the  mental  func 
tions  of  the  nervous  system,  every  experimenter,  from  the  first  pa 
triarch  downwards,  would  agree  that  its  prime  action  is  evident. 
But  what  is  a  stimulant?  It  is  usually  held  to  be  something 
which  spurs  on  an  animal  operated  upon  to  a  more  vigorous 
performance  of  its  duties.  It  seems  very  doubtful  if,  on  the 
healthy  nervous  system,  this  is  ever  the  effect  of  alcohol,  even 
in  the  most  moderate  doses,  and  for  the  shortest  periods  of 
time.*  There  is  noticed,  also,  an  increased  rapidity  of  pulse; 
but  that  cannot  be  regarded  as  an  evidence  even  of  locally  aug 
mented  vital  action,  for,  of  all  patients,  those  specially  exhibit 
it  who  have  the  weakest  hearts,  and  are  most  enfeebled  by  dis 
ease.  A  diminution  of  force  is  quite  consistent  with  augmented 
quickness  of  motion.  Physiologists  have  always  taught,  as  con 
firmed  by  all  experiments,  that  large  doses  of  alcohol  immedi 
ately,  and  small  doses  after  a  time,  depress  the  nervous  cen 
tres;  the  primary  action  is  anaesthetic,  —  a  diminution  of  vital 
ity  in  the  nervous  system" 

These  facts  enable  us  to  realize  the  subtle  and  varied 
consequences  of  the  use  of  alcohol,  through  the  nervous 
system  and  brain,  upon  the  mind  and  actions  of  men. 
The  forms  of  mental  perversion  to  which  the  use  of 
this  poison  gives  rise,  from  irritable  temper  to  outra 
geous  crime,  —  darkening  the  perceptions,  exciting  the 
passions,  hardening  the  heart,  blunting  the  conscience, 
and  destroying  the  brain,  —  are  infinitely  various,  and 
find  their  abundant  illustration  in  the  records  of  our 
legal  tribunals.  It  is  not  a  text-book  but  a  cyclopaedia 

*  "  Renewal  of  Life,"  London,  1859;   and  "Clinical  Lectures,"  London, 
1805. 


Does  increased  pulse  or  motion  prove  increased  force!  What  is  the  pri 
mary  action  of  Alcohol  called  ?  what  does  ancesthcsia  mean  ?  What  men- 
tal  effects  follow  the  use  of  Alcohol?  Give  two  historical  examples. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  97 

that  can  adequately  exhibit  them.  The  assassin  Booth 
and  t^e  Emperor  Theodore  are  two  of  the  latest  ex 
amples  on  the  tableaux  of  modern  history,  which  can 
never  be  forgotten.* 

Dr.  H.  Munroe,  of  Hull,  has  published  several  cases 
where  the  maniacal  tendency  to  set  fire  to  houses  and 
to  steal  (pyromania  and  kleptomania)  were  entirely  due 
to  the  use  of  intoxicants.  Plato,  twenty  centuries  ago, 
recognized  a  fact  in  physiology,  when  he  forbade  the  use 
of  wine  to  the  newly  married.  It  perverts  the  brain  of 
the  unborn  child  j  it  strikes  a  blow  at  reason  and  virtue 
in  the  very  womb.  It  is  the  real  cause  of  so  many  ill- 
balanced  minds,  neither  insane  nor  sensible  ;  and  in  its 
higher  use  it  is  the  teeming  fount  of  the  sad  idiotcy 
which  disgraces  and  depresses  our  boasted  civilization. 
In  Dr.  Howe's  reports  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachu 
setts,  he  shows  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  idiots  had 
drunken  parents  (145  out  of  300).  It  is  an  undoubted 
fact,  exemplified  in  the  history  of  thousands  of  families, 
that  the  children  born  after  their  parents  joined  the 


*  Wilkes  Booth,  the  cowardly  murderer  of  the  lute  President  of  the  United 
States,  when  he  saw  his  helpless  victim  in  the  box  at  the  theatre,  had  not 
the  cruelty  to  strike  the  blow;  his  human  feelings  overcame  him,  and  trem 
bling  with  suppressed  agony  at  the  thought  of  becoming  an  assassin,  he 
rushed  into  the  nearest  restaurant,  crying  out,  "  Brandy  1  Brandy!  Bran 
dy  1 "  Then,  gulping  down  the  hellish  draught,  it  instantly  poisoned  his 
blood,  fired  up  his  brain,  transformed  his  whole  nature  into  that  of  a  raging 
fiend;  and,  in  this  remorseless  condition,  he  shot  down  that  noble-hearted 
President,  —  the  nation's  great  hope,  the  people's  best  friend. 


State  Dr.  Munroe's  cases.  What  was  Plato's  doctrine?  What  are  the 
consequences  of  neglecting  it?  What  proportion  of  idiots  have  drunken 
parents  ? 

7 


98  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Temperance  Societ}-,  are  not  only  physically  heall  hio* 
but  mentally  brighter  and  better  than  those  born  before. 

83.  Dr.  Ed.  Smith,  "London  Phil.  Trans, "  1859,  h*j 
published  the  results  of  experiments  made  upon  himceif 
and  friends.  After  sipping  a  few  spoonfuls  of  wine,  the 
first  thing  in  the  morning,  they  noted  down  the  foUow- 
ing  symptoms  and  sequences  :  — 

"  In  from  three  to  seven  minutes,  the  mind  ivas  disturbed. 
Consciousness,  the  power  of  fixing  the  attention,  the  percep 
tion  of  light,  and  we  believe  of  sound  also,  and  the  power  of 
directing  and  co-ordinating  the  muscles,  were  lessened;  whilst 
there  was  a  very  marked,  peculiar,  continuous,  thrilling,  not 
unpleasant  sensation,  passing  down  through  the  whole  system, 
during  thirty  minutes.  After  this  period  the  effect  diminished, 
as  shown  by  increased  consciousness  and  the  perception  of 
light,  as  if  a  veil  had  fallen  from  the  eyes  ;  nevertheless*  the  last 
power  to  be  completely  regained  was  consciousness. 

"  SPIRITS  made  us  very  hilarious  and  talkative  in  ten  minutes, 
and  during  twenty  to  twenty-five— so  much  so,  that  my  friend 
was  altogether  a  king.  But  as  minutes  flew  away,  so  did  our 
joyousuess ;  and,  little  by  little,  we  lessened  our  garrulity,  and 
felt  less  happ3r,  until  at  length,  having  gone  down  by  degrees,  we 
remained  silent,  almost  morose,  and  extremely  miserable. 
Then,  indeed,  we  felt  the  horrors  and  the  sorrows  of  the 
drunkard's  lot,  and  saw,  with  a  clearness  which  can  only  be  per 
ceived  by  such  experience,  how  certain  it  is  that  he  must  again 
drain  the  intoxicating  cup. 

1  'In  addition,  every  mental  perception  was  darkened;  and  the 
dreaminess,  which  is  not  an  unpleasant  feature  of  it,  is  a  con 
dition  in  which  neither  thought  nor  imagination  acquires 
power. " 


83.  What  were  Dr.  E.  Smith's  experiments?  In  what  order  were  the 
effects  produced  on  senses  and  mind  ?  What  was  the  sentient  result  that 
explains  the  slavery  of  the  drinker  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  99 

An  agent  with  such  tendencies  as  these  can  hardly  be 
regarded  as  a  friend  of  man  or  God.  By  necessary  law 
it  is  thus  seen  to  be  the  seed  of  inordinate  appetite,  cre 
ating  and  fostering  a  passion  for  itself,  which  grows  with 
what  it  feeds  on.  The  sole  issue  of  its  use  is  sensuality 
and  sin,  ending  in  that  frightful  condition  of  moral  sla- 
veiy,  confirmed  drunkenness,  when  the  rational  Will  is 
abolished,  — a  condition  which  forever  debars  its  victim 
from  reaching 

"  That  tranquil  height 
Where  wisdom  purifies  the  sight, 
And  God  unfolds  to  the  humble  gaze, 
The  bliss  and  beauty  of  his  ways.  " 

84.  Power  must  plainly  be  stored  up  in  some  available 
form,  before  it  can  be  expended.  In  the  human  body  it 
exists  as  a  concentration  of  cohesive,  chemic,  organic, 
and  nervous  forces,  the  sum  of  which  is  the  actual 
strength  or  capacity  of  the  Constitution  (1,)  for  nutrition 
and  excretion,  i.  e.,  health-power  ;  (2,)  for  endurance  and 
resistance  of  disease  ;  and  (3,)  for  voluntary  work  with 
the  surplus.  When  people  are  recovering  from  illness, 
it  is  not  until  the  nutritive  functions  are  restored  that 
the  strength  comes  back  for  working  with  the  hands  or 
the  brain.  So,  after  long  walks,  the  brain  is  not  in  a  fit 
state  for  thinking,  because  the  surplus,  or  accumulated 
power,  has  been  spent.  But  the  constitution  and  the 
food,  in  each  case,  expresses  a  fixed  amount  of  power, 
just  as  does  the  mechanism  of  a  steam-engine  with  its 


84.  Explain  the  law  of  the  generation  of  power  in  the  body,  and  its  distri 
bution. 


100  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

fuel  and  steam.  All  these  forces,  as  a  little  thought  will 
show,  are  correlated,  and  many  of  them  mutually  con 
vertible, —  i.  e.,  as  one  form  disappears,  it  becomes 
another  of  exactly  the  same  value.  So  much  concen 
trated  sun-power  passed  into  wood  or  coal  in  growing, 
holding  together  its  parts,  does,  when  separated  in  burn 
ing,  reappear  as  light  and  heat ;  the  excess  of  heat 
above  the  boiling-point  passes  into  steam-force,  and 
that  vanishes  into  mechanical  action  and  attrition,  etc., 
to  become  once  more  light,  heat,  and  electricity.  The 
forces  of  the  sun  interweave  themselves  into  the  texture 
of  the  golden  grain,  and  become  fixed  as  cohesion  or 
chemical  attraction ;  bread  made  from  that  grain  is  di 
gested  into  blood,  part  transformed  into  muscle,  part 
into  oily  and  saccharine  fuel  in  the  circulation,  to  be  at 
last  decomposed  in  the  performance  of  the  work  to  which 
it  was  destined.  Thus  we  return  to  our  starting-point, 
for  all  this  merely  explains  how  force  is  liberated  after 
being  temporarily  fixed,  or  stored  up  for  use. 

A  little  diagram  of  the  Body  and  its  essential  parts 
—  Head,  Trunk,  and  Limbs  —  will  make  the  application  of 
this  law  very  plain. 


17      •  -TRUNK  •  •    20 


21    Total. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  101 

It,  under  normal  action,  of  the  whole  measure  of  force 
coming  from  digested  food,  we  have  less  or  more  used  up 
by  the  Trunk,  then  there  must  be  a  corresponding  alter 
ation  in  the  surplus  force  available  for  the  uses  of  the 
Brain  and  the  Limbs,  i.  e.,  for  Thinking  and  Working. 
It  cannot  be  used  first  in  the  body,  and  also  in  the  brain, 
the  nerves,  and  the  voluntary  muscles  of  the  limbs 
Hence,  if  the  SUM  of  a  Man's  available  force  derived  from 
Food  be  represented  as  24  degrees,  of  which  17  are 
needed  for  the  healthy  and  vigorous  working  of  the  body 
itself,  —  there  will  be  7  degrees  left  for  voluntary  work, 
physical  or  mental.  When  alcohol  is  introduced,  how 
ever,  it  evidently  creates  an  increased  activity  of  the  in 
ternal  vascular  system,  indicated  by  greater  pumping 
of  the  heart,  and  quickened  pulsation  and  breathing. 
Now,  unless  this  work  can  be  done  without  expenditure 
of  potver,  which  is  absurd,  just  so  much  force  as  this 
increased  internal  work  required  must  have  been  ab 
stracted  from  the  surplus  fund  destined  for  voluntary 
work,  —  the  real  end  of  the  wonderful  series  of  divine 
provisions  revealed  in  nature ;  in  other  words,  the 
Body,  regarded  as  an  instrument  of  voluntary  action,  is 
now  less  strong  by  2  degrees,  having  only  4  units  of  energy 
available  instead  of  7. 

This  demonstration  will  explain  the  meaning  to  be 
put  upon  the  remarkable  words  of  Baron  Liebig,  in  his 
4 'Animal  Chemistry,"  (1843). 

"The  circulation  will  appear  accelerated  at  the  expense  of 


Give  the  statement  of  Liebig  as  to  the  force-wasting  action  of  Alcohol. 
Show  why  the  stimulation  of  the  vascular-system  robs  the  voluntary  nerves 
of  useful  power. 


102  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

the  force  available  for  voluntary  motion,  but  without  the  pro 
duction  of  a  greater  amount  of  mechanical  force." 

In  his  later  "  Letters,"  he  again  says :  — 

"Wine  is  quite  superfluous  to  man.  .  .  .  It  is  constantly 
followed  by  the  expenditure  of  power.  These  drinks  promote 
the  change  of  matter  in  the  body,  and  are  consequently  attended 
by  an  inward  loss  of  poiver,  WHICH  CEASES  TO  BE  PRODUCTIVE, 
because  it  is  not  employed  in  overcoming  outward  difficulties, 
—  i.  e.,  in  working." 

In  other  words,  according  to  this  great  chemist,  alco 
hol  abstracts  the  power  of  the  system  from  doing  useful 
work  in  field,  workshop,  or  study,  in  order  to  cleanse 
the  house  from  the  defilement  of  Alcohol  itself. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  103 


V. 


85.  Is  Alcohol  a  curative  agent?  Were  we  to  answer 
this  question  in  the  affirmative,  it  would  really  be,  to 
the  impartial  mind,  an  argument  against  its  common 
use.  Why  take  a  cure  when  we  have  no  complaint? 
Medicines  are  not  for  the  health}',  but  the  diseased,  and 
that  which  makes  them  medicines  at  all  is  their  pecu 
liar  power  to  produce  extraordinary  changes  in  the 
body.  Physic  and  food  are  contraries,  related  respec 
tively  to  disease  and  health.  If  alcoholics  are  ever 
really  useful  as  medicines,  or  even  as  adjuncts  to  medi 
cal  treatment,  certain  conditions  must  be  observed  in 
their  use,  which  are  generally  overlooked. 

(1.)  The  disease  must  be  there  and  understood  before 
the  remedy,  or  supposed  remedy,  can  be  administered. 

(2.)  It  must  be  known  that  the  alcohol  is  the  essen 
tial  part  of  the  remedy,  and  not  a  mere  accident.  For 
example,  when  brandy  and  hot  water  are  given  for 
spasm,  the  real  remedy  is  the  heat. 

(3.)  The  nature  and  strength  of  the  liquor  must  be 
known,  which  it  rarel}"  is.  Besides,  it  is  often  adulter 
ated  with  powerful  drugs  that  may  occasionally  effect 
the  benefit  ascribed  to  the  spirit. 


83.  Is  Alcohol  a  medicine  ?  "What  does  this  imply  ?  To  what  are  food  and 
physic  related  ?  Is  it  physic  for  health  and  food  for  inappetence  ?  What  is 
the  characteristic  of  all  medicine  ?  Is  not  all  physic  bad  in  health  ?  What 
are  the  fire  conditions  for  a  rational  prescription  of  Alcohol?  As  to  the 


104  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

(4.)  Above  all,  the  exact  condition  of  the  patient, 
and  the  time  for  the  administration,  with  all  the  proper 
tests,  must  be  reduced  to  a  system  and  science ;  other 
wise  the  prescription  is  mere  quackery.  Where  are 
these  conditions  fulfilled? 

(5.)  Lastly,  careful  and  comprehensive  experiments 
must  be  made  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  alcohol 
for  certain  classes  of  disease,  showing  the  benefit  of  the 
practice  by  the  lessened  mortality.  "Where  are  these  ? 

As  respects  the  first  condition,  alcohol  is  generally 
prescribed  where  the  symptoms  are  obscure,  or  where 
other  things  have  failed,  with  the  mere  chance  or  hope 
that  the  case  may  be  hit.  In  some  instances,  the  nature 
of  the  disease,  and  hence  the  remedy,  has  been  entirely 
mistaken.*  Dr.  Aitken,  in  his  great  work,f  supplies  an 
illustration  worth  noting :  "  The  term  alcoholism  is 
used  to  denote  various  symptoms  of  disease  attending 
morbid  processes  of  various  kinds  capable  of  being  traced 
to  the  use  of  stimulants  containing  alcohol.  The  term 
is  used  in  the  sense  analogous  to  that  in  which  we  use 
the  terms  mercurialism,  ergotism,  narcotism,  and  the 
like,  the  agents  inducing  these  specific  states  acting 
after  the  manner  of  a  cumulative  poison.  The  progress 
of  modern  science  has  distinctly  demonstrated  the  poi- 

*  For  the  showing  out  of  the  whole  subject,  see  Dr.  Lees'  "  Doctors 
Drugs  and  Drink."    London,  1867. 
t  "  Practice  of  Medicine,"  vol.  i.,  p.  828. 


first,  give  Dr.  Aitken's  example  of  the  huge  mistake  of  treating  alcoholism 
with  Alcohol,  on  the  supposition  that  it  was  evidence  of  exalted  vitality. 
State  the  differences  between  the  old  and  new  method  of  treating  delirium 
tremens. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  105 

sonous  action  of  alcohol.  In  1828  it  was  theoretically 
advanced  by  Leovielle  that  delirium  tremens  consisted  in 
an  exalted  state  of  the  vital  powers  of  the  brain,  excited 

by  the  molecules  saturated  with  alcohol But 

now  it  is  [seen  to  be]  a  matter  of  fact,  determined  by 
direct  experiment  as  well  as  by  observation,  that  alco 
hol  is  absorbed  directly  into  the  circulation,  and  is 
capable  of  acting  as  a  direct  poison  upon  the  nervous 
tissue  through  which  the  infected  blood  circulates." 
The  old  mode  of  treatment,  with  opium  and  drink, 
killed,  in  Edinburgh,  25  per  cent.,  in  Glasgow,  50 
per  cent.,  while  now  hundreds  have  been  treated 
with  warm  baths,  nourishing  food,  no  alcohol,  and  no 
opium,  and  not  one  per  hundred  dies.* 

86.  As  to  the  second  condition,  especially  in  ailments 
affecting  stomach,  liver,  and  kidneys,  it  has  been  found, 
on  excluding  the  alcohol  of  porter  and  some  wines,  that 
the  benefit  has  been  increased.  Accidental  elements  of 
cure  are  frequently  overlooked,  and  the  credit  given  to 
agents  which  really  opposed  the  cure.  Beer  and  porter 
are  multifarious  compounds. 

*  Mr.  Hutchinson,  of  the  London  Hospital,  however,  reports  some  cases 
which  did  well  with  beer.  This  was  owing,  not  to  the  alcohol,  but  the  drugs. 
He  "  rarely  employs  opium  or  spirits.  In  private  practice,  he  reports  the  best 
narcotic  to  be  bottled  stout,  but  for  hospital  use  common  London  porter  is 
sufficiently  stupefying,  if  taken  in  quantity."  —  (  "  Medical  Times,"  Nov.  21, 
18G8.)  M.  Gosselin,  of  Paris,  observes,  in  a  recent  chemical  lecture,  that  "  one 
of  the  contra  indications  to  the  use  of  chloroform  is  the  inveterate  use  of  alco 
holics  so  common  in  the  classes  brought  to  the  hospitals.  In  these  subjects, 
who  have  passed  their  fiftieth  year,  anaesthetics  should  either  be  abstained 
from,  or  employed  with  the  greatest  circumspection." —  ( "  Gaz.  des  Hop.," 
Oct.  31,  18G8.)  This  evinces  again  the  lowering  nature  of  alcoholic  liquors. 


86.  As  to  the  second,  what  is  the  fallacy  of  reasoning  into  which  prac 
titioners  are  liable  to  fall  in  reference  to  compound  drinks  and  prescriptions  ? 
How  can  the  true  curative  element  be  detected  ? 


106  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE, 

87.  The  third  condition  is  rarely  fulfilled.  Dr. 
Aitken  has  some  excellent  observations  in  bis  second 
volume :  — 

"  Although  so  extensively  used,  as  yet  little  is  certainly 
known  of  the  action  of  alcohol  when  administered  in  the  form 
of  wine,  beer,  or  spirits.  None  of  the  general  statements  so 
frequently  met  with  as  to  the  composition  or  effects  of  any 
particular  class  of  beverages  can  be  relied  on  as  a  guide  to  the 
physician  in  prescribing ;  and  much  error  seems  to  prevail  on 
the  subject,  not  only  in  the  popular  mind,  but  also  amongst 
medical  men."  ...  "  Alcohol  is  the  most  potent  agent  for 
good  or  evil  in  all  these  beverages ;  and,  therefore,  its  amount 
and  its  effects  challenge  attention  in  the  first  instance.  A  pint 
of  beer  (20  oz.)  may  contain  one,  or  two,  or  more  ounces  of  abso 
lute  alcohol,  or  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  ounce  I  This  alcohol 
may  be  associated  in  the  beer  with  an  amount  of  free  acid  vary 
ing  from  fifteen  to  fifty  grains,  and  with  an  amount  of  sugar 
varying  from  half  an  ounce  to  three  or  four  times  that  quantity.  A 
glass  of  sherry  (2  oz.)  may  contain  from  a  quarter  of  an  ounce 
to  half  an  ouncet  or  more,  of  absolute  alcohol,  with  sugar 
varying  in  quantity  from  a  mere  trace  to  20  or  30  grains, 
associated  with  a  very  variable  amount  of  free  acid,  and  other 
ingredients.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  for  a  physician  to 
know  what  his  patients  are  drinking,  unless  he  is  acquainted 
with  the  chief  constituents  and  their  amounts  contained  in  the 
identical  liquor  which  he  may  prescribe ;  and,  of  course,  before 
sound  conclusions  can  be  arrived  at,  the  conditions  under 
•which  these  beverages  are  administered,  or  taken,  must  also 
be  very  precisely  observed."  .  .  .  "The  blindly  empirical 
and  routine  mode  in  which  alcoholic  beverages  are  generally 
prescribed,  in  absolute  ignorance  of  their  constitution  and 
genuineness,  renders  it  advisable  in  a  text-book  to  insist  fully 
on  these  topics,  believing  that  the  physician  cannot  successfully 


87.  As  to  the  third,  give  Dr.  Aitken's  protest.  "  Show  how  a  pint  of  beer 
or  wine  may  differ  greatly  as  to  the  substances  in  it,  —as  to  its  Alcohol,  its 
sugar,  ita  acids,  or  its  adulterations." 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  107 

cope  with  diseases,  and  especially  with  constitutional  diseases, 
and  the  ill-health  with  which  they  are  associated,  unless  ho 
learns  judiciously  to  use  the  immense  power  at  his  disposal  in 
the  influence  of  diet,  water,  and  alcoholic  beverages  as  agents 
in  the  management  of  the  system  during  the  intervals  between 
the  paroxysms  of  these  diseases."  (p.  212.) 

88.  As  to  the  fourth  condition,  in  the  case  of  fevers, 
Dr.  Anstie,  an  opponent  of  temperance  doctrine,  lays 
down  as  the  law,  that  alcohol  cannot  be  scientifically 
administered  until  the  urine  of  the  patient  has  been 
analyzed,  and  the  sphygmograph  (or  pulse-writer)  has 
been  applied  for  the  course  of  many  hours :  otherwise, 
mischief,  not  benefit,  will  result.  He  says,  "  Even  the 
slight  and  trivial  symptom  of  flushing  in  the  face  is  a 
sign  of  the  first  degree  of  the  poisonous  action,  namely, 
a  vase-motor  paralysis,  and  shows  that  at  least  we  have 
touched  the  border-line  at  which  the  beneficial  action 
of  alcohol  ceases,  and  its  poisonous  effects  begin." — 
("Lancet,"  Jan.  25,  1868.) 

But  this  docs  not  express  the  whole  truth,  for  we 
have  to  do  with  the  quality  of  the  drink  as  well  as  its 
quantity,  and  the  precise  purpose  it  is  ordered  for.  On 
both  these  points  the  ordinary  practitioner  is  deeply 
ignorant.  In  the  chemical  section  (p.  10),  we  referred 
to  three  sorts  of  alcohols  —  methylic,  ethylic,  and  amy- 
lic  —  the  boiling-point  of  which  is,  respectively,  151°, 
172°,  and  270°.  In  drinking  the  compounds  gener 
ally  sold  as  wines  and  whiskeys,  no  man  can  detect 
the  actual  kind  of  alcohol  he  is  consuming.  Of  the 

88.  As  to  tb*  fourth,  give  Dr.  Anstie's  test  and  testimony.  Is  "  flushing  in 
the  face"  a  sign  of  alcoholic  poisoning?  State  the  warning  of  Dr.  W.  B. 
Richardson. 


108  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

physiological  difference,  however,  Dr.  W.  B.  Richard 
son,  F.R.S.,  thus  discourses  :  — 

"  The  scientific  physician  ought  never  to  attempt  their  use 
except  as  alcohols,  the  precise  nature  of  which  he  understands. 
Does  he  want  a  quickly  acting  stimulant  which  eliminates 
rapidly,  taking  out  little  force,  he  has  it  in  methylic  alcohol. 
Does  he  want  an  alcohol  that  shall  create  a  more  lasting 
effect  [draw  out  more  power],  he  has  it  in  ethylic  [wine]  alco 
hol.  Does  he  wrant  to  reduce  the  body,  to  prostrate  it  for  many 
hours,  he  can  do  that  with  amylic,  or  butylic,  or  caproylic 
alcohol.  But  when  he  is  ordering  alcohol  by  the  general  loose 
names  of  gin,  brandy,  rum,  wine,  he  has  no  conception  of 
what  he  is  prescribing,  nor  of  the  effect  of  his  prescription."  * 

89.  As  to  the  fifth  condition,  all  facts  run  counter  to 
any  such  conclusion,  and  condemn  as  worthless  or  per 
nicious  the  old  routine  practice.     The  statistics  of  the 
London   Hospital   exhibit,   over   a   series   of  years,   a 
gradual  advance  in  the  quantity  of  alcohol  prescribed, 
and  a  no  less  gradual  increase  in  the  mortality.     From 
1862  to  1864,  the  deaths  rose  from  7  to  10  per  cent. 
In  the  surgical  department,  from  1854  to  1864,  from  4.48 
per  cent,  to  6.55  per  cent.,  —  an  increase  in  both  cases 
of  nearly  one-third  ! 

90.  On  the  other  hand,  every  trial  in  the  British  hos 
pitals,  in  the  treatment  of  particular  diseases  without 
spirits,  or  with  vastly  reduced  quantities  of  alcoholics, 

*  "  Medical  Times,"  March  7, 18G8,  p.  255. 


89.  As  to  the  fifth,  do  facts  run  in  that  direction,  and  give  any  support  to 
existing  routine  ?    What  are  the  statistics  of  the  London  Hospital  7 

90.  What  do  the  trials  in  British  hospitals  tend  to  establish  ?    What  have 
Drs.  Wilks,  Ttees,  and  Button  shown  at  Guy's  as  to  the  treatment  of 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  109 

has  been,  without  exception,  succeeded  by  a  largely 
lessened  mortality.  Cholera,  rheumatic  fever,  typhus, 
and  typhoid  fevers  may  be  taken  as  instances.  Drs. 
Wilks,  Rees,  and  Sutton  have  treated  rheumatic  fever 
extensively,  ivithout  drugs  and  stimulants,  and  instead 
of  the  common  frightful  sequel  of  heart-disease,  it  has 
been  cured  in  half  the  usual  time,  with  less  than  one  per 
cent,  of  that  malady,  which  turns  out  to  be  rather  a 
result  of  stimulant  treatment  than  of  any  natural  con 
nection  with  the  disease.  So  true  is  the  remark  made 
thirty  years  ago,  by  Dr.  R.  D.  Mussey,  that,  "  under  the 
stimulant  practice,  trains  of  morbid  symptoms  are  often 
aggravated,  and  new  centres  of  irritation  established, 
which,  if  not  sufficient  to  destroy  the  patient,  prolong 
the  period  of  the  fever,  and  frequently  cause  relapses, 
or  a  lingering  convalescence."  * 

In  regard  to  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers,  the  unhappy 
influence  of  the  late  Dr.  Todd's  treatment  has  not  only 
led  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  Prince  Consort  of  England 
and  of  himself,  but  of  tens  of  thousands  of  valuable 
lives  besides.  The  mortality  in  his  own  practice  in 
rheumatic  fever  was  always  very  large ;  and,  as  Dr.  A. 
"W.  Barclay  observes,  in  his  "Medical  Errors,"  the 
cases  contain,  in  themselves,  a  complete  refutation 
of  his  theory.  "  The  18  cases  reported,  give  15  in 
which  there  was  heart-complication,  and  in  some  of 
these  the  stimulating  treatment  was  fully  carried  out. 

*  Mussey  andLindsley'sPrize  Essay  on  Alcoholic  Liquors. 


rheumatic  fever?    Give  Dr.  Mnssey's  evidence?    What  does  Dr.  A.  W\ 
Barclay  allege  as  to  Dr.  Todd's  treatment  of  fever? 


110        TEXT- BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

In  common  fever  again  eleven  deaths  occurred  among 
twenty-four  cases." 

91.  The   reports   of  fever-treatment  without   stimu 
lants,  by  Dr.  Henderson,  of  Shanghai,  and  Dr.  Bishop, 
of  Naples,  which  reduced   the  mortality  from  twenty- 
eight  to  seven  per  cent.,  attracted,  several  years  ago, 
the  attention  of  several  English  physicians.     Dr.  T.  K. 
Chambers,  who,  under  the  ordinary  treatment,  lost  one 
patient  in  five,  under  the  new  method,  had  only  three 
deaths  in  121  cases.      Well  might  this  physician  say 
to  his  students,  in  his  Clinical  Lectures :  "  Above  all, 
I   would   caution    you   against   employing  wine   as   a 
substitute  for  the  true  restorative   treatment.    It  may 
be    useful   as   an  adjunct,  but    never    in    its    place." 

(P-  61.) 

92.  Two  uses  have  been  imagined  for  alcohol  as  a 
medicine  in  fever,  —  the  one,  that  of  a  fuel  to  keep  up 
animal   heat   when   solid  food  cannot  be  taken ;   the 
other,  that  of  an  ancestJietic,  like  chloroform,  which  will 
stop  the  destructive  waste  of  the  nervous  system,  indi 
cated  by  low,  muttering  delirium,  —  the  use,  as  it  were, 
of  a  drag  upon  a  carriage  going  too  rapidly  down  hill. 
Our  answer  is,  that  this  is  altogether  a  matter  of  fact, 
not  of  theory ;  and  the  facts  are  dead  against  the  fancy. 
What  is  here  wanted  to  be  done  can  be  better  accom 
plished  by  other  agencies.     Milk,  unfermented  wine,  or 
fruit  juices,  are  better  fuel  than  alcohol,  while  the  wet 


91.  Give  the  results  of  the  treatment  of  fever,  without  stimulants,  at 
Shanghai,  Naples,  and  London  ?  Does  Dr.  Chambers  call  Alcohol  a  "  medi 
cine,"  or  an  adjunct  ? 

92.  What  are  the  two  imagined  uses  of  Alcohol  as  physic?    What  Is  the 
value  of  the  fancy;  and  why  must  it  be  thrown  away  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  Ill 

sheet,  or  ice  applied  to  the  head  or  spine,  is  equally 
potent,  and  infinitely  preferable  for  soothing  the  nerv 
ous  system  and  regulating  the  pulse.  The  error  of  the 
prevailing  system  was  long  ago  pointed  out  by  a  prac 
tical  and  philosophic  physician,  Dr.  Archibald  Billing, 
who  thus  enforces  the  truth  :  — 

"Tonics  give  strength;  stimulants  call  it  forth.  Stimulants 
excite  action,  but  action  is  not  strength.  On  the  contrarj', 
over-action  increases  exhaustion.  One  thing  necessary  to  the 
recovery  of  the  nervous  system  (in  fever)  is  arterial  blood.  To 
produce  this  of  good  quality,  digestion  and  free  respiration  are 
requisite.  The  digestion  having  been  disturbed,  it  is  useless 
to  supply  other  than  fluid  nutriment  (I  have  found  milk  the 
best),  until  some  renewal  of  nervous  energy  takes  place.  This 
restoration  ivill  not  be  expedited  by  stimulants."  * 

93.  The  elaborate  statistics  published  in  March,  18G4, 
as  to  the  treatment  of  typhus  fever  in  the  hospitals  at 
Glasgow,  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Gairdner,  professor  of  physic, 
are  of  the  greatest  weight,  and  must  eventually  settle 
the  problem  with  the  profession.  It  is  only  a  question 
of  time. 

In  many  hundreds  of  cases  (nearly  COO),  of  all  ages, 
the  mortality  lessened  exactly  as  the  dose  of  alcohol 
diminisJied,  milk,  or  buttermilk,  being  given  in  its 
place.  Wine,  reduced  from  an  average  of  34  ounces 
to  2J,  was  followed  by  a  reduction  of  deaths  from 

*  "Principles  of  Medicine."    4th  edition.    London,  1841. 


93.  "What  was  the  most  significant  experiment  ever  made  as  to  the  treat 
ment  of  typhus  with  and  without  Alcohol?  What  do  Prof,  Gairdner 's 
statistics  prove? 


112  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

17  to  11  per  cent.  Of  209  children  under  15  years  of 
age,  treated  without  any  alcohol,  not  one  died,  though 
the  very  same  class  of  cases,  treated  with  alcohol  in  the 
Infirmary,  had  a  mortality  of  six  per  cent.  An  inquest 
should  have  sat  upon  the  six,  and  the  just  verdict  would 
have  been,  "  Infanticide  by  medical  routine  and  obsti 
nacy." 

94.  Dr.  J.  B.  Russell,  of  Glasgow,  commenting  on  the 
preceding  facts,  observes  that,  "  Alcoholic  stimulants  are 
a  two-edged  sword  in  the  hands  of  the  practitioner.  If 
employed  within  the  range  of  their  stimulant  action, 
which  is  variable  in  every  case,  they  are  helpful ;  if 
pushed  beyond  into  their  narcotic  action,  they  impair 
the  vitality,  which  it  is  our  duty  to  augment.  Even  as 
pure  stimulants,  they  may  be  used  unnecessarily,  so 
as  to  push  and  urge  the  laboring  energies  of  the  sys 
tem,  maintaining  an  unnatural  excitement  in  a  journey, 
which  could,  with  leisure,  have  been  more  easily  accom 
plished." 

Professor  Lehmann,  in  his  "  Physiological  Chemis 
try,"  observes,  that,  "  when  once  the  fact  is  admitted, 
that  the  first  thing  in  many  diseases  is  to  furnish  a 
copious  supply  of  oxygen  to  the  blood,  which  has  been 
loaded  writh  imperfectly  decomposed  substances,  and  to 
remove,  as  quickly  as  possible,  the  carbonic  acid  which 
has  accumulated  in  it,  these  observations  will  have 
afforded  us  true  remedial  agencies  which  exceed  almost 
every  other  in  the  certainty  of  their  action.  We  should 


94.  Give  the  opinion,of  Dr.  J.  B.  Russell,  of  Glasgow,  as  to  the  results  of 
recent  experiments?  State  Lehmann's  great  principle  of  cure.  What  are 
the  latest  conclusions  of  Dr.  Gairdner,  as  stated  by  the  "  Medical  Journal?" 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  113 

forbid  the  use  of  spirituous  drinks,  and  not  even  pre 
scribe  tinctures,  which  hinder  the  necessary  excretion 
of  carbonic  acid."  (Vol.  III.,  on  Respiration.)* 

It  is  certain  that  the  exaggerated  notions  of  the 
therapeutic  value  of  alcohol  are  giving  way  before  in 
quiry  and  evidence,  and  that  the  old  theories  are  being 
fast  exploded.  The  "British  Medical  Journal "  (June 
22,  1868),  for  example,  in  reporting  another  of  the 
admirable  lectures  of  Professor  Gairdner,  "  On  the 
Limits  of  Alcoholic  Stimulation  in  Acute  Disease," 
remarks :  — 

"  The  author  condemned  the  practice,  and  also  the  theoret 
ical  views  leading  to  the  practice  of  the  late  Dr.  Todd.  It  is  as 
nearly  as  possible  a  demonstrated  fact,  that  much  of  what  is  spent 
In  wines  and  spirits  for  the  sick  in  hospitals,  and,  therefore, 
probably  in  private  practice,  is  unnecessarily,  if  not  injuriously, 
spent." 

There  is  no  question  that  stimulants,  prescribed  for 
trifling  ailments,  have  introduced  intemperance  into 

*  Public  writers  are  always  insisting  upon  the  need  of  pure  air  and  san 
itary  regulations,  who  yet  fail  to  see  the  important  fact  that  the  use  of  alco 
holics  violates  both  conditions.  "  Excess  of  carbonic  acid,"  says  one  of 
them,  "  is  the  most  discernible  injury  inflicted  by  communities  upon  open 
air,  —  an  injury  revenged  with  fatal  force  upon  the  aggressors."  Indiffer 
ent  air,  taken  from  different  parts  of  the  same  town,  the  amount  may 
vary  as  from  9  to  29;  "and  in  this  latter  district,"  says  Dr.  Angus  Smith, 
"  the  deaths  rose  to  4.5  per  100  of  the  population."  It  is  remarkable  that 
this  is  exactly  the  ratio  of  mortality  amongst  our  drinkers  themselves,  while 
it  is  only  one  per  100  amongst  abstainers,  who  cannot,  and  will  not,  live  in 
the  bad  districts.  "Much  of  the  phthisis  [consumption]  and  scrofula  [aris 
ing  from  defective  nourishment]  of  town  populations  is,  doubtless,  due  to  an 
atmosphere  overcharged  with  carbonic  acid." 

What  special  reasons,  as  given  by  Prof.  Laycock,  impose  a  great  moral 
responsibility  upon  physicians  in  rc-gard  to  the  prescription  of  Alcohol  ? 

8 


114  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

many  families,  and  spread  social  and  personal  ruin  all 
around.  "I  have  seen,"  said  Dr.  S.  AVilks,  physician 
to  Gu}7's  Hospital,  "  so  many  cases  of  persons,  especially 
ladies,  who  have  entirely  given  themselves  up  to  the 
pleasures  of  brandy-drinking,  become  paraplegic  [half 
paral3rzed].  From  what  we  hear  of  our  continental 
neighbors,  it  would  seem  that  that  diabolical  compound 
st}rled  absinthe  is  productive  of  exhaustion  of  nervous 
power  in  even  a  much  more  marked  degree.  It  would 
seem  that  the  volatile  oils,  dissolved  in  the  alcohol, 
give  additional  force  to  its  poisonous  effects."  * 

Let  us  hope,  however,  that  the  members  of  a  noble 
profession  will  speedily  awake  to  a  full  sense  of  the 
great  responsibility  under  which  they  labor  in  prescrib 
ing  alcoholics,  recollecting  the  fact,  of  which  their  daily 
practice  gives  them  a  perpetual  proof,  —  the  fact,  as 
stated  by  Professor  Laycock,  M.D.,  —  that  u  indiges 
tion,  being  temporarily  relieved  by  alcoholic  stimulants, 
it  lays  the  foundation  for  an  ever-growing  habit  of  taking 
them  in  women,  and  excites  a  more  and  more  urgent 
desire  in  the  drunkard,"  so  that  "  it  is  in  this  way  that 
many  persons  of  position  and  education  become  irrecov 
erable  sots."  Forgetting  this  law,  and  pandering  to 
fashion  or  appetite,  the  physician  will  fail  in  his  true 
and  holy  mission,  and,  under  pretence  of  healing  physi 
cal  disorder,  will  leave  behind  him,  in  many  households, 
a  demon  more  rampant  and  remorseless  than  ever  tore 
the  flesh  of  the  possessed  ones  in  olden  time. 

*  "  Lectures  on  Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System."  —  "  Medical  Times," 
Oct.  24, 18G8. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  115 


VI. 

m  ^thtian  ia  ijje  |!t&le, 

95.  A  Latin  epigram  written  in  an  old  Bible,  says, 
"  This  is  a  book  where  every  one  seeks  his  oiun  opinions, 
and  every  one  finds  them."  And  when  it  is  recollected, 
that  the  Bible  has  been,  in  many  ages  and  many  coun 
tries,  deliberately  cited  to  justify  despotism  and  drink 
ing,  slavery  and  sensuality,  we  can  hardly  wonder  at 
the  profane  satire.  The  rebuke,  however,  really  falls, 
not  upon  the  Bible,  but  upon  its  Interpreters.  The  ob 
jective  truth  remains  unaffected  by  the  perversions  of 
mankind,  who,  in  behalf  of  their  lusts  and  prejudices, 
do,  as  Cecil  says,  "  labor  to  make  the  Bible  their  Bible." 
As  looking  at  an  object  through  a  peculiar  medium 
colors  what  we  see,  so  our  atmosphere  of  prejudice  or 
passions,  the  limitations  of  our  ignorance,  and  the  ob 
scuring  media  of  versions  or  dead  languages,  will  cer 
tainly  tend  to  distort  or  darken  our  views  of  scripture 
truth.  We  must,  first^  honestly  SEEK  with  single-eye 
for  the  genuine  Truth  of  God  ;  and,  second,  adopt  EVERT 
MEANS  for  clearing  away  the  haze  which  floats  between 
the  Truth  and  the  Inquirer.  Our  aim  must  be  to  interpret 
the  writers  in  the  sense  of  their  own  age,  not  of  ours  ;  in 
short,  to  see  with  the  eyes,  hear  with  the  ears,  and  under- 


95.  What  was  the  meaning  of  the  Latin  epigram  inscribed  upon  the  blank 
page  of  a  Bible  ?  On  whom  does  its  censure  fall  ?  "What  are  the  two  chief 
conditions  for  finding  the  Truth  ?  What  are  the  perverting  media  ?  What 


116  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

stand  with  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  old,  and,  by  placing 
ourselves  in  their  situation,  master  the  meaning  of  their 
thoughts  and  language.  Unless  our  minds  are  pervaded 
with  the  facts,  the  customs,  and  the  opinions  of  the 
ancients,  misinterpretation  of  their  writings  is  simply 
Inevitable ;  but,  purified  and  illuminated  by  such  condi 
tions,  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  Facts  of  Nature,  the 
Laws  of  Morals,  and  the  Truths  of  Scripture,  will  be 
found  in  happy  harmony.* 

96.  Among  the  certain  facts,  the  following  may  be 
affirmed :  — 

1.  That  the  Bible  nowhere  condemns  abstinence  from 
strong  drinks. 

2.  That  the  Bible  nowhere  associates  God's  blessing 
with  the  use  of  strong  drinks. 

*  A  work  conceived  in  this  spirit  has  been  brought  to  a  conclusion,  name 
ly,  "  The  Temperance  Bible  Commentary, "  by  Dr.  LEES  and  DAWSON 
BURNS,  M.  A.,  in  which  (537  texts  are  expounded  and  illustrated  at  large. 
Of  this  work,  Professor  Taylor  Lewis,  of  Union  College,  himself  an  eminent 
scholar,  says :  — 

"It  is  unique  in  its  kind  as  a  collection  and  fair  presentation  of  every 
thing  in  Scripture  that  can  possibly  bear  on  either  aspect  of  the  question. 
It  sets  before  us  the  whole  matter,  — Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Syriac,  Chaldee. 
It  exhibits  great  research  without  parade  of  authorities,  and  substantial 
learning  without  pedantry.  Its  execution  shows  accuracy,  conscientious 
ness,  and  fidelity.  It  is  earnest,  yet  candid;  very  zealous,  yet  fair;  truth 
ful  in  its  statements  of  adverse  opinions;  shunning  no  difficulties,  yet 
manifesting  everywhere  the  deepest  reverence  for  the  sacred  oracles." 

"  The  Temperance  Bible  Commentary, "  it  is  believed,  not  only  attempts 
to  solve  the  entire  problem,  but  does  solve  it  for  all  time.  Every  known, 
perhaps  every  possible  objection,  is  there  met  or  anticipated.  In  the  text 
we  have  space  only  to  point  at  certain  broad  facts  and  principles. 


work  has  been  conceived  in  this  spirit?    What  is  the  characterization  of  it, 
given  by  Professor  Taylor  Lewis  ? 

00.  What  are  the  six  certain  propositions,  or  points,  which  are  made  good 
in  the  "  Temperance  Bible  Commentary  "  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  117 

3.  That  the  Bible,  in  various  ways,  commends  absti 
nence  from  strong  drinks. 

4.  That  the  Bible,  in  various  and  emphatic  methods, 
exhibits  the  manifold  evils  of  strong  drinks. 

5.  That  the  Bible  is  the  first  book  that  proclaimed 
abstinence  to  be  the  cure  for  drunkenness. 

6.  That  the  great  principle  of  the  Bible — philanthro 
py  —  enforces  the  practice  of  abstinence. 

97.  Ignorance  of  a  fact  in  history,  and  of  a  principle 
in  language,  has  prevented  men  from  seeing  the  truth 
of  these  plain  propositions,  which,  nevertheless,  stand 
out  in  bold  relief  from  the  sacred  pages.  The  FACT  to 
which  we  refer  is,  that  there  were  in  ancient  times,  as  in 
modern,  wines  that  were  good  and  unintoxicating,  as 
well  as  wines  that  were  evil  and  inebriating.*  Pliny, 
Plutarch,  Theophrastus,  and  others,  specially  call  the 
former,  "wholesome,"  "innocent,"  and  "moral,"  and 
distinguish  them  from  those  which  inflame  the  blood 
and  excite  the  passions.  The  PRINCIPLE  to  which  we 
allude  is,  that  where  a  word  is  the  same,  the  thing  is  the 
same,  in  its  species  and  qualities  ;  whence  the  false  and 
uncritical  inference,  that  when  wine  is  spoken  of  with 
approval  in  one  text,  and  with  disapproval  in  another,  it 
must  needs  be  the  same  sort  of  wine  I  The  "  Tippling- 
critic"  says,  "  the  same  WINE  but  indifferent  quantity ;" 
the  "  Temperance  critic  "  says,  "  the  same  word  but 

*  For  citations  and  translations  from  Latin,  Greek  and  other  authors,  see 
the  pamphlet  by  Dr.  Lees,  entitled,  "  Wines,  ancient  and  modern." 

97.  State  the  one  fact,  and  the  one  principle,  ignorance  of  which  stands  in 
the  way  of  the  perception  and  acceptance  of  these  propositions.  First, — 
what  is  the  fact ,  or  distinction;  concerning  the  thing,  "  Wine  »  ?  Second,  — 
what  is  the  principle  concerning  the  word  "  Wine  "  ?  What  does  the  tip 
pling  critic  say,  and  what  the  Temperance  man?  Note,  — What  of  the  case 


118  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

applied  to  wine  of  opposite  quality."  *  On  other  words 
and  questions,  there  could  be  no  difference  of  opinion. 
Take,  for  example,  the  words  man,  woman,  wife,  spirit, 
angel,  etc.  The  generic  meaning  does  not  imply  that 
there  is  only  one  kind  of,  men,  wives,  spirits,  and  angels  ; 
on  the  contrary,  in  each  particular  passage,  it  is  for  the 
context  (if  at  all)  to  determine  the  goodness,  badness, 
or  other  quality  of  the  subject.  So  with  the  Hebrew, 
Arabic,  Chaldee,  Greek,  Latin,  and  English  words  for 
"  Wine ; "  from  a  generic  term  you  cannot  logically 
draw  a  specific  inference. f 

*  The  special  implications  of  the  evil  quality  of  a  particular  wine  cannot 
be  got  rid  of  by  saying  that  the  Bible  warns  against  excess,  and  thus  im 
plicitly  sanctions  a  lesser  use.  In  reality,  it  warns  against  both  the  use  and 
the  excess.  But  the  principle  of  the  objection  is  false.  It  is  the  same  as 
saying  that  if  the  decalogue  prohibits  from  killing  a  man,  we  are  allowed  to 
maltreat  him  short  of  killing !  Now,  not  only  does  the  Old  Testament  com 
mend  abstinence,  and  condemn  drink,  but  the  New  frequently  and  distinctly 
exhorts  to  it,  while  church  history  gives  illustrious  examples  of  it  in  the  first 
ages.  It  was,  as  Prof.  Jowett  admits,  ranked  "amongst  the  counsels  of 
perfection."  The  Bishop  of  Ephesus  — Timotheus  — was  so  extreme  an  ab 
stainer,  that  he  seemed  to  need  an  apostolic  prescription  to  induce  him  to 
use  "  a  little  wine  "  even  as  a  medicine.  What  sort  of  wine  it  was,  we  do 
not  absolutely  know ;  but  we  do  know  that  Athenxus  says  of  the  sweet,  un- 
intoxicating  Lesbian,  called protropos,  it  was  "  very  good  for  the  stomach." 
(».,  §  24.) 

t  A  citation  from  a  distinguished  British  philosopher  will  serve  as  a  suffi 
cient  example:  "  The  business  of  a  lexicographer  is  to  explain  all  the 
modes  in  which  a  ^i'ord  is  used  by  good  writers,  —  tracing  its  derivation,  as 
signing  its  radical  import,  and  then  subjoining  passages  from  various  au 
thors,  in  which  the  term  is  variously  applied,"  etc.  —  (S.  Bailey ;  "  Letters  on 
the  Philosophy  of  the  Mind,"  p.  108,  London,  1863.)  He  instances  the  ab 
surdity  of  forcing  the  modern  sense  of  defalcation  (as  defaltation,  originated 
by  an  ignorant  writer,  and  accepted  by  an  ignorant  public),  upon  the  older 
and  altogether  different  use  of  the  word  by  Addison,  in  the  sense  of  "  cutting 
off"  merely.  It  had  no  relation  to  "  fault,"  but  to  falx,  "  a  side."  Yet 


of  Timothy  ?  Give  examples  of  generic  terms,  and  the  ordinary  inferences. 
What  philosopher  sustains  this  view  of  the  various  appttcctfoM  of  ccrlaiu 
words  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  119 

98.  The  absurdncss  of  the  false  principle  exposed  is 
enhanced  by  the  fact,  that  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
Bible 'a  dozen  words,  with  their  special  meanings,  are 
all  hidden  under  the  English  terms  "  wine"  and  "  strong 
drink ;"  and  that  some  of  these  words,  clearly  and  un 
deniably,  denote  unfermented  and  unintoxicating  wine.* 

(1.)  YAYIN  is  the  generic  term  for  wine,  including  the 
pure  "  blood  of  the  grape,  "  preserved-juice,  and  the  juice 
after  being  fermented  and  drugged  as  well.  It  is  ap 
plied  in  all  these  varied  ways :  "  They  wash  their 
garments  in  wine."  "  They  gathered  ivine."  "  Wine  is 
a  mocker"  it  "  biteth  like  a  serpent."  "  Their  wine  is 
the  poison  of  dragons."  Divine  sanction  is  never  asso 
ciated  with  yayin  where  the  context  shows  it  to  be  in 
toxicating. 

that  is  not  so  absurd  as  to  put  an  exclusive,  modern,  and  technical  sense  of 
"fermented  juice  "  upon  the  ancient  word  "  wine,"  by  which  a  remote,  deriv 
ative,  and  specific  sense  is  made  to  override  the  broad  and  general  meaning 
of  "  expressed  juice. " 

*  About  CO  texts  of  the  "  Authorized  Version"  refer  to  wine  (or  what  is 
supposed  to  be  wine)  with  approbation,  where  the  context  shows  or  implies 
it  to  be  a  natural  or  unfermented  product.  Not  more  than  52  texts  can  be 
proved,  by  the  context,  to  refer  to  intoxicating  wine,  and  not  one  of  these 
is  connected  with  the  Divine  blessing.  On  the  contrary,  one-half  of  them 
describe  it  as  evil,  as  a  mocker,  and  a  stupefier,  or  else  prohibit  it,  either  in 
general,  or  in  special  cases. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  an  opponent  of  Temperance  could  at  once  go 
to  the  Apocryphal  Scriptures,  — Ecclesiasticus,  to  wit,  — and  by  a  ready 
and  unambiguous  quotation,  confute  the  doctrine  of  the  abstainer ;"  but  from 
the  Canonical  Scriptures  no  such  passage  is  forthcoming.  ''Wisdom  is- 
justified  of  her  children.1' 


98.  What  augments  the  absurdity  of  forcing  a  specific  sense  upon  a  gener 
al  term  ?  (Note.  —  What  is  the  noteworthy  difference  between  the  Apocry 
pha  and  the  Canonical  Scriptures  ?  How  many  words  in  the  original  are  trans 
lated,  or  hidden,  under  the  one  word  "  Wine  »  ?  (1.)  AVhat  is  the  meaning 
of  "  Yayin"  1  Give  texts  where  it  is  used  for  very  difiereut  things.  What 


120  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

The  derivation  of  the  word,  like  that  of  the  equivalent 
Chaldee  term  Khamer,  probably  points  to  the  turbid, 
foaming  appearance  of  fresh  expressed  juices  ;  for  cer 
tainly  the  Jews,  in  much  later  times,  had  no  idea  of  the 
occult  process  of  "  fermentation."  The  Rabbis,  in  fact, 
had  a  theory  that  "  the  juice  of  fruit  does  not  ferment !  " 
The  Targums  speak  of  "the  wine  Kliamar  (=yayin), 
which  Messiah  shall  drink,  reserved  in  its  grapes  from 
the  beginning."  Thomas  Aquinas,  in  the  13th  century, 
decides  that  "  grape-juice  (mustum)  is  of  the  specific 
nature  of  wine  (w'nwm),  and  may  be  used  in  the  celebra 
tion  of  the  Eucharist." 

This  word  being  general,  necessitated,  in  the  later 
age  of  Jewish  literature,  the  use  of  two  or  three  specific 
terms  to  indicate  particular  sorts  of  wine.  As,  for  ex 
ample,  the  following :  — 

(2.)  KHAMER  :  fresh  or  "foaming "  wine  in  its  first 
sense.  But  since  the  wine  wrhen  it  ferments  becomes 
red)  the  idea  of  redness  got  associated  with  the  Chaldee 
use  of  the  word  ;  and,  perhaps,  "  thickness  "  also.  It 
is  a  word  used  for  the/oam  of  the  sea,  and  for  the  bitu 
men  of  pits. 

(3.)  Ausis,  from  asas,  "to  tread,"  signifies  the  same 
as  the  classic  protropos  —  "  first  trodden  "  or  "  running  " 
wine.  "  The  mountains  shall  drop-down  ausis." 

(4.)  SOBHE  is  "  boiled  wine,"  the  sapa  of  the  Ro 
mans,  the  sabe  of  the  French  and  Italians.  It  was  the 
luxurious  drink  of  the  rich ;  of  course  not  intoxicat 
ing- 


is  the  Rabbinical  equivalent?    Give  Aquinas's  definition  of  grape-juice  as 
"wine."     (2.)  What  is  the  sense  of  khamerl     (3.)  Of  Ausisl    (4.)  Of 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  121 

Other  Hebrew  words,  translated  wine,  do  not  really 
signify  wine  at  all,  for  example  :  — 

(5.)  TIROSH  is  a  collective  term  for  "  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  "  in  its  natural  state,  from  the  early  "  tirosh  in  the 
cluster"  to  the  richer  "  blessing  within  it"  of  the  full 
ripe  grapes,  ready  for  grateful  consumption.  Hence 
Micah's  phrase,  "  Thou  shalt  tread  vine  fruit  (tirosJi), 
but  shall  not  drink  yayin"  for  the  fruit  shall  be  withered 
(vi.  15).  It  is  associated,  as  a  thing  of  growth,  with 
corn  and  orchard  fruit  (yitzJiar  —  not  oil)  ;  dependent 
upon  the  dew  and  rain.  In  the  Latin,  French,  German, 
Italian,  and  Spanish  versions,  it  is  generally,  but  wrongly, 
translated  mustum,  mosto,  etc.  It  is  nowhere  implied  to 
be  either  intoxicating  or  liquid.  "Whoredom,  wine, 
and  new  wine  "  does  not  make  sense  ;  but  Idolatry,  Ine 
briety,  and  Luxury  does,  —  represented  by  Whoredom, 
Wine,  and  Grapes,  which  "  take  away  the  heart."  The 
words  in  Prov.  iii.  10,  and  Joel  ii.  24,  translated 
"bursting"  and  "overflowing,"  respectively  signify  no 
more  than  "  abundance."  (See  "  Bible  Commenta- 

i7.") 

(6.)  JEsmsiiAii  is  the  word  translated  "flagons  of 
wine ; "  but  errroneously,  as  all  scholars  now  concede. 
It  denoted  a  fruit-cake. 

(7.)  SHEMARIM,  from  Shamar,  "  to  preserve,"  means 
"  preserves,"  well  refined  —  not  "dregs."  Wine  is  in 
terpolated  ;  it  only  occurs  once  in  the  supposed  sense  of 
wine.  The  older  translators  regarded  it  as  "  sweet  and 


Solhe  or  Saba?  (5.)  "What  is  the  true  sense  of  Tirosh?  Name  the  two 
texts,  a  mistranslation  of  which  has  deceived  the  commentators.  (G.)  What 
does  Aslieshah  denote  ?  (7.)  Explain  the  sense  and  derivation  of  Shema- 


122  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPER AXCE. 

dainty  things."  It  corresponds  in  formation  with  she- 
manim  (from  shemen,  oil),  "  fat  things." 

(8.)  MESECII,  "  mixture "  simpty,  which  might  be 
good  or  bad.  The  mingled  wine  of  wisdom  (boiled 
grape-juice  mixed  with  water),  or  the  wine  of  sensuality. 
"  Who  hath  woe?  They  that  are  mighty  to  mingle  sweet 
drink"  (shdkar),  i.  e.,  with  inebriating  drugs. 

(9.)  SIIAKAK,*  erroneously  translated  strong  drink, 
comes  from  an  Oriental  root  for  "  sweet-juice,"  and  is 
the  undoubted  original  of  the  European  words  (Greek, 
Latin,  Teutonic,  and  Spanish)  for  sugar.  It  is  used  to 
this  day  in  Arabia  for  palm-juice  and  palm-wine,  whether 
fresh  or  fermented. 

In  the  Common  Version  of  the  Bible,  there  is  just  one 
text,  and  only  one,  that  gives  apparent  Divine  sanction  to 
intoxicating  wine,  namely,  Deut.  xiv.  26,  where  strong 
drink  is  named  as  a  permissible  element  in  a  sacred 
feast.  The  answer  is  conclusive,  —  no  word  for  "  strong  " 
exists  in  the  Hebrew  text.  The  term  there  used  is 
simply  SHAKAR,  — the  original  of  saccar,  sugar.  It  de 
noted  Palm  Wine  in  various  states,  unfermented,  sweet, 
and  syrupy,  as  well  as  intoxicating  and  "  bitter."  Hence, 
as  Bishop  Lowth  observes,  the  antithesis  of  Isaiah, — 

*  In  Notes  to  Dr.  Delitzsh's  "  Commentary  on  Isaiah  "  (Clarke,  Edin 
burgh),  we  iind  a  modified  explanation :  — 

"The  Arabic  sakkar,  no  doubt  equivalent  to  saJcchari,  l honey  of  canes ' 
(Arrian),  an  Indian  word,  signifying  'forming  broken  pieces,'  i.e.,  sugar  ill 
'  grains  or  small  lumps.' " 


rim,  falsely  translated  "ivine  on  the  lees."  (9.)  What  is  the  meaning  of 
Shakar  ?  Is  there  any  authority  for  adding  "  strong  "  to  it  ?  Of  what  Eu 
ropean  words  is  it  the  original  ?  Which  is  the  solitary  text  that  apparently 
associates  Divine  sanction  with  intoxicating  drink?  What  is  the  fallacy  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  123 

"  Thy  shechar  (sweet  wine)  shall  become  bitter,"  — i.  e., 
deteriorated,  which  it  does  when  fermented. 

(10).  OINOS  is  the  generic  Greek  word  corresponding 
with  the  Hebrew  yayin;  and  is  applicable  to  all  sorts  of 
wine.  The  context  alone  can  determine  the  specific 
nature  of  the  wine  to  which  the  word  points. 

(11.)  GLEUKOS  only  occurs  once  in  the  New  Testa 
ment,  and  is  not  associated  with  any  Divine  approval. 
It  is  classically  the  name  of  rich  grape-juice,  or  unfer- 
mented  wine ;  perhaps,  in  some  cases,  for  initially  fer 
mented  wine,  the  preservation  of  which  had  been  neg 
lected. 

(12.)  Oxos  was  "  sour  wine,"  sometimes  mingled 
with  drugs. 

99.  Though  the  end  of  revelation  is  not  to  supersede 
experience  and  science,  yet  considering  how  drinking  is 
connected  at  many  points  with  morals  and  religion,  by 
way  of  hindrance  to  the  purposes  of  a  progressive  and 
Divine  revelation,  wre  may  fairly  expect  that  the  subject 
would  come  under  the  observation  of  the  inspired  writers 
of  the  Bible.  When  we  come  to  examine  it,  impartially, 
in  the  light  of  facts  and  reason,  it  will  be  found  to  have 
anticipated  the  ordinary  wisdom  of  men  and  the  develop 
ments  of  modern  science.  The  great  physicians  of 
Europe  express  the  last  verdict  of  science  when  they 
affirm  the  old  Temperance  doctrine,  that  alcohol  is 


(10.)  What  Greek  word  corresponds  with  the  Hebrew  "Yayin"?    To  what 
is  Oinos  applicable  ?    (11.)    To  what  Gleukos  1    (12.)  To  what  Oxos  1 

99.  What  special  reason  have  we  for  believing  that  the  subject  of  strong 
drink  would  be  noticed  in  the  Bible  ?  What  do  we  actually  find  ?  Does  the 
Bible  support  the  teachings  of  science  ?  Give  texts  in  proof  that  intoxicat 
ing  wine  is  a  poison,  a  narcotic,  and  a  demoralizer. 


124  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE . 

simply  a  narcotic  poison,  and  not  food  in  any  true  or 
ordinary  sense.     The  property  of  such  a  poison  is  to  se 
duce,  mock,  deceive  ;  to  generate  an  ever-increasing  ap 
petite  for  itself;  and  to  make  the   soul  subject  to  the 
craving  tyranny  of  the  sensual  nature.     Now  the  express 
language  of  Scripture  is  but  the  echo  of  this  conclusion : 
"Wine    is  a   mocker" — "be    not   deceived   thereb}^." 
The  cry  of  the  drunkard  is :  "  They  have  stricken  me, 
but  I  felt  it  not  —  I  will  seek  it  jet  again."     The  voice 
of  wisdom  is  :  "  Look  not  upon  the  wine,  when  it  is  red  ; 
when  it  giveth  its  e}Te  in  the  cup  "  (or  the  marks  of  fer 
mentation")  ;  "  for,  at  last,  it  stingeth  like  a  serpent."   Nay, 
more,  in  three  plain  texts,  the  Hebrew  for  "poison" 
(KHEMAH)  —  the  word  six  times  so  translated  —  is  ap 
plied  to  this  very  species  of  drink  which  "  stingeth  like 
a  serpent."     The   evil   wine  was   like  "  the  poison   of 
dragons."  —  (Deut.   xxxii.    33.)     The    princess    made 
the  king  "  sick  with  $>oison  of  wine."  —  (Hos.  vii.  5.) 
And  a  woe  is  hurled  against  him  wrho  giveth  such  drink 
to  his  neighbor  —  who  "  putteth  thy  poison  to  him,"  — 
(Hab.   ii.    15),  —  the    consequence    being    that  God's 
poisoned   cup  of  wrath  (KHEMAH)  shall   be  turned  to 
him.     Is  it  not  pure  insanit}^  to  suppose  that  such  an 
element  is  identical  with  the  contents  of  any  "  cup  of 
blessing"  ? 

100.  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  is  not  less  explicit  and  com- 
prehensive. 

(1.)  ENGKRATIA —  self-control — is  four  times  trans 
lated  "  temperance,"  twice  temperate,  and  once  conti- 


100.  How  many  distinctions  lias  the  New  Testament  on  this  question  of 
Temperance?    (1.)  What  is  its  word  for  "self-control"?    Name  the  texts 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  125 

nent.     In  1  Cor.  vit.  9  ;  ix.  25,  it  has  evidently  a  nega 
tive  application  equal  to  abstaining. 

(2.)  EPI-EIKEES  —  forbearing  —  translated  once  mod' 
eration;  thrice  gentle;  once  patient. 

(3.)  SOPHRONEO  —  sedate,  discreet  —  translated  sober, 
sober-minded,  and  in  a  right  mind.  This  is  mental 
"  sobriety,"  —  the  state  when  we  can  obey  reason,  and 
resist  appetite.  This  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  drink 
ing,  which,  at  best,  is  the  gratification  of  a  sensuous 
lust.  Mental  temperance  being  expressed  by  the  preced 
ing  terms,  we  still  need  a  word  for  abstinence  in  regard  to 
the  body.  This  is  found  in  a  compound  formed  from  the 
negative  particle  nee  (not),  andjpio  to  (drink)  =  neeph6. 

(4.)  NEEPHO  is  found  in  the  apostolic  exhortations 
seven  times ;  in  its  adjective  form  (neepJialios)  thrice. 
It  occurs  in  such  peculiar  connections,  that  it  seems  ab 
surd  to  put  upon  it  any  secondary  or  metaphorical  mean 
ing.  The  primary  sense  of  the  word,  beyond  all  cavil, 
is  that  of  ABSTINENCE  ;  its  secondary  sense  of"  wakeful  " 
expresses  the  condition  in  which  people  are  who  abstain 
from  narcotics.  "  Without  doubt,"  says  Dean  Alford, 
"  the  word  signifies  abstinence  ;  but  Dr.  Lees  is  bound 
to  prove  that  it  means  total  abstinence ! "  Now,  he  is 
bound  to  prove  no  more  than  this,  —  that  it  means  not 
drinking,  and  that  the  apostles  use  it,  or  ever  may  have 
used  it,  in  that,  its  primary  and  proper  sense.  Josephus, 


where  it  includes  abstinence.  (2.)  What  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  word 
translated  "moderation"?  (3.)  What  is  the  term  for  mental  sobriety? 
(4.)  What  is  the  word  for  physical  temperance  or  abstinence?  How  is  it 
formed  ?  What  is  its  adjective  ?  What  does  Dean  Alford  admit  ?  How  does 
Josephua,  the  Jewish  historian,  use  the  word?  In  what  texts  do  the 
Apostles  use  necpho,  in  company  with  words  for  mental  temperance  and 
watchfulness  ?  (5.)  What  is  the  fifth  term  ? 


126  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

one  of  their  contemporaries,  says  of  the  priests 
"  They  abstained  from  wine  "  —  (apo  akratou  neephon- 
tes).  Does  this  admit  of  doubt?  Besides,  Paul  and 
Peter  use  the  word  along  with  the  proper  words  for  men 
tal  temperance  and  for  watchfulness.  Thus  :  — 

1  Tim.   iii.    2.    Be   (neephalion)    ABSTINENT,    sound- 
minded. 

1  Thess.  v.  C.  Let  us  watch  and  DRINK  NOT  (neepho- 
men). 

1  Pet.  iv.    7.  Be  sound-minded   and   ABSTINENT  unto 
prayer. 

1  Pet.  v.  8.  (Neepsate)  DRINK  NOT,  be  vigilant  .  .  . 
because  your  adversary  seeketh  whom  he  may  drink 
down  [kata-pie],  (So  Dr.  A  Clarke,  the  commentator.) 
To  inquire  why  Josephus,  Philo,  and  others  should 
by  this  word  mean  "  abstinence  from  drink,"  while  the 
apostles  signify  "  drinking  a  little,"  would  be  to  follow 
perversity  and  appetite  into  the  den  of  idols. 

101.  The  objection  that  the  deacons  are  not  \:o  be 
"  given  towards  much  wrine,"  and  the  deaconesses  (aged 
women)  "  not  to  be  enslaved  to  much  wine,"  falls  before 
the  fact  that  unfermented  wine  was  allowed  to  women 
and  to  men  after  a  certain  age.*  If  it  be  said,  Why 
warn  against  excess  in  what  does  not  intoxicate?  —  we 
ask,  Why  Solomon  informs  us  that  "  To  eat  much 
honey  is  not  good,"  if  no  one  ever  did  ?  This  is  the 

*  Titus,  li.  2,  and  1  Tim.  iii :  11,  command  that  the  elders  and  their 
wives  shall  be  neephalious  (abstinent),  —  i.  e.,  no  drinkers  of  ANOTHER  SOUT 
of  wine  — the  bad. 


101.  "What  is  the  reference  to  "  much  wine  »  ?    Were  "  sweets  "  abused  by 
the  ancients  ?    Give  examples  from  Solomon  and  from  Lucian.    Were  Bish- 


TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPEUAXCE.  127 

fallacy  of  interpreting  the  language  of  tlie  ancients  by 
the  customs  of  the  moderns.  Pliny  and  many  other 
ancient  writers  show  us  that  the  abuse  of  syrupy  and 
sweet  wines  was  a  special  vice  of  their  day.  Lucian  has 
this  passage :  "I  came,  by  Jove,  as  those  who  drink 
gleukos,  require  an  emetic,"  —  before  they  drink  again. 

Josephus  says  of  the  Jewish  priests,  that,  "  on  account 
of  their  office,  they  had  prescribed  to  them  a  double  de 
gree  of  purity."  So  Paul  deemed  a  special  and  extreme 
form  of  abstinence  proper  to  be  urged  upon  a  bishop  : 
just  as  the  Law  Book  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Church  com 
mands  that  a  bishop  shall  not  enter  a  tavern,  except  on 
necessity. 

(5.)  St.  Paul  uses  a  word  which  is  equivalent  to  the 
modern  pledge,  —  "  discountenance  the  drinking  usages," 
—  namely,  nee  (not)  — par  (over,  or  in  presence  of)  — 
oinon  (wine).  In  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  3,  and  Titus  i.  7,  8, 
in  connection  with  being  no  drinker,  sound-minded,  and 
no  striker,  it  is  commanded  that  a  bishop  shall  be  nee- 
par-oinos,  "  nor  near  wine,"  —  not  in  its  company.  (So 
Professor  Stuart.) 

The  fact  that  teetotalism  prevailed  throughout  the 
East  for  thousands  of  years  ;  that  it  was  a  part  of  the 
discipline  of  the  oriental  priesthoods  from  Egypt  to 
India  ;  that  it  pervaded  Judaea  in  the  time  of  our  Lord, 
and  was  manifested  in  the  sympathetic  sects  of  the  Es- 
senes  and  Therapeutae,  —  are  circumstances  which  com 
pel  the  impartial  critic  to  give  a  plain  and  literal  sense 


ops  (or  Ministers)  subject  to  special  restrictions  ?    Name  an  example  from 
the  Law-Book  of  the  pre-Nicene  church.    la  what  way  did  St.  Paul  enforce 


128  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

to  the  language  of  the  Scriptures,  when  it  at  once  corre 
sponds  with  historical  practices  and  scientific  verities. 
Language  that  would  be  understood  elsewhere  as  incul 
cating  abstinence  could  not  in  Palestine  be  regarded  as 
teaching  drinking. 

Professor  Murphy,  of  Belfast,  asks  concerning  this 
text,  "  Is  that  the  form  a  total-abstinence  prohibition 
would  take  ? "  Certainly,  it  is  the  form  which  the  Divine 
prohibition  took.  Does  the  form  (or  rather  the  penalty) 
get  rid  of  the  essence  and  wisdom  of  the  law  ?  If  not, 
where  is  the  sense  of  the  objection  ?  The  Rev.  A.  Dob 
bin,  in  supporting  Dr.  Murphy,  says,  "It  is  no  new 
discovery  that  the  Bible  is  a  temperance  book  ;  and  that, 
in  certain  circumstances,  it  gives  its  sanction  and  encour 
agement  to  total  abstinence.  There  is  one  thing,  how 
ever,  not  yet  admitted,  —  that  the  Bible  IMPOSES  total 
abstinence  upon  every  Christian  man  as  an  obligation, 
as  morally  binding  as  the  sixth  commandment."  What 
ever  notion  may  be  attached  to  the  word  "  imposes,"  it 
seems  to  us  who  are  commanded  to  "  be  perfect  even  as 
our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,"  that  the  Divine  teach 
ings,  the  Divine  warnings,  and  the  Divine  example,  do 
impose  a  very  clear  duty ;  and  that  what  is  reasonable 
and  good,  and  the  neglect  of  which  fills  the  world  with 
mischief  and  immorality,  murder  included,  is  entitled  to 
be  called  a  moral  obligation  as  truly  as  any  of  the  ten 
commandments.  It  is  the  nature  of  an  action,  not  the 
form  of  an  expression,  that  creates  and  constitutes  our 


this  ?    Is  there  any  other  source  of  obligation,  any  higher  sanction,  than  the 
Divine  will,  so  expressed  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  129 

duty.*  Plato  "  reasoned  well,"  when  he  said  that 
"  many  other  cases  one  might  mention,  in  which  wine 
ought  not  to  be  drank  by  those  ivho  possess  understanding 
and  a  correct  rule  of  action.9'  —  ("  Laws,"  ii.,  674.) 

102.  We  can  now  go  back  to  the  six  propositions  laid 
down  in  §  94. 

(I.)  The  Bible  noiuhere  CONDEMNS  abstinence  from 
intoxicants.  It  nowhere  teaches  that  it  is  either  inex 
pedient  or  unlawful ;  hence  abstinence  cannot  be  anti- 
scriptural.  No  Jew  breaks  the  old  law,  no  Christian  the 
new,  by  refusing  to  drink  intoxicants.  The  New  Testa 
ment  law  of  "moderation"  simply  enjoins  equanimity 
under  persecution,  and  gentleness  under  provocation. 
There  is  no  text  that  says,  "  To  the  pure  all  things  are 
proper."  Timothy's  case  is  conclusive  as  to  the  lawful 
ness  of  abstinence,  for  the  apostle  passes  no  censure, 
and  limits  the  exceptional  prescription  by  circumstances 
personal  to  the  patient. 

(II.)  The  Bible  nowhere  associates  God's  BLESSING 
with  STRONG  DRINK.  We  can  only  conceive  of  three 

*  It  is  still  often  objected  that  "  all  things  are  to  bo  received  with  thanks 
giving,  and  nothing  to  be  esteemed  impure."  It  is  a  disgrace  to  modem 
scholarship,  that  texts  having  reference  to  obsolete  and  merely  ceremonial 
distinctions  of  meats  should  be  thus  perversely  applied,  for  the  purpose  of 
ignoring  the  physiological  properti&s  of  an  artificial  beverage.  The  ancients 
were  wiser,  as  the  following  extract  from  Justin  Martyr,  A.  D.  148,  will 
show:  "Although  we  discriminate  between  greeu  herbs,  not  eating  all, 
•we  refrain  from  eating  some,  not  because  they  are  common  or  unclean,  but 
because  they  are  bitter,  or  deadly,  or  thorny.  But  we  lay  hands  on,  and 
take  all  herbs  that  are  sweet,  very  nourishing,  and  good,  whether  marine  or 
laud  plants.,"  — ("  Dial,  cum  Trypho."  cap.  xx.) 


102.  (I.)  Does  the  Bible  anywhere  condemn  Abstinence  ?  Why  cannot  it 
be  called  aHtft-scriptural  ?  (II.)  What  are  the  three  most  plausible  examples 
of  Divine  sanction  on  strong  drink  ?  What  is  Dr.  Wardlaw's  comment  on. 

9 


130  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEKANCE. 

plausible  objections  to  this  statement.  First,  the  text 
of  Deut.  xiv.  25,  26,  already  disposed  of  as  a  mis-transla 
tion  and  an  assumption,  since  "  sweet  drink"  is  the  prop 
er  representative  of  the  original  sliakar.  Second,  the 
text  of  Prov.  xxxi.  4-7,  which,  however,  cannot  be  un 
derstood  as  anything  but  an  ironical  permission,  a  con- 
trastive  admonition,  in  fact,  equal  to  saying  that  such  liq 
uors  are  Jit  for  nothing  e?sethan  to  stupefy  the  brain  and 
cause  the  soul  to  forget  its  duties,  as  the  judge  of  life.* 
Third,  the  miraculous  conversion  of  water  into  wine,  at  the 
marriage  feast  at  Cana.  But  the  presumption  is  against 
the  idea  that  our  Lord  would  transform  innocent  water 
into  intoxicating  wine,  —  an  element  that  the  cotemporary 
Essenes  called  "fools'  physic,"  —  which  after  Christians 
designated  as  the  "  invention  of  the  evil  one  "  —  though, 
as  Augustin  witnesses,  they  readily  drank  the  juice  of 
grapes;  which  he  very  illogically  condemns  as  inconsist 
ent  !  In  truth  all  our  blessed  Lord  did,  was  to  discounte 
nance  the  dualistic  mistakes  of  the  Persian  philosophy, 
with  a  foresight  of  the  Manichsean  revival  of  it,  that  there 

*  "  I  pity  the  state  of  that  man's  mind,"  says  Ralph  Wardlaw,  D.D.,  "  who 
can  .  .  .  allow  himself  to  suppose  that  this  passage  contains  an  inspired 
toleration  of  excess  — a  permission  and  encouragement  to  seek  relief  in  the 
insensibility  of  intoxication  —  to  make  wine  the  refuge  from  melancholy. 
Would  it  be  fair  to  set  this  one  passage  against  the  whole  Bible?— one  text 
against  its  entire  scope,  and  unnumbered  positive,  and  pointed,  and  damna 
tory  prohibitions  ?  .  .  .  But  when  men  do  take  hold  of  a  passage  like 
this,  and  quote  it  with  a  leer  while  they  are  putting  the  bottle  to  each  other's 
mouths,  and  drinking  themselves  drunk,  they  only  discover  the  bent  of  their 
minds.  .  .  .  Let  no  such  inference  be  drawn  as  that  the  Bible  directs  to 
wine  as  the  refuge  from  cares.  .  .  .  It  is  the  most  wretched  of  all  re 
sources.  .  .  .  The  Bible  condemns  every  approach  to  excess."  —  ("Lec 
tures  on  Proverbs."  Glasgow,  1801.) 

"  Give  strong  drink  to  him  that  Is  ready  to  perish, "  etc?    Explain  the  Big- 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  131 

was  essential  evil  in  matter,  and  therefore  in  "  marriage  " 
and  in  "wine."  Now,  as  his  countenance  of  a  pure 
marriage  gives  no  sanction  to  a  corrupt  one,  neither  does 
his  conversion  of  pure  water  into  pure  wine  involve  the 
slightest  approval  of  that  essentially  impure  and  cor 
rupt  element  which  is  "a  mocker,"  and  "  wherein  is  ex 
cess."  Here,  again,  the  modern  conception  is  anticipated 
by  Divine  Wisdom,  in  that  miracle  which,  though  the 
first  in  order  of  time,  was  recorded  only  in  the  last 
of  the  Gospels,,  when  the  error  it  meets  was  creeping 
into  the  church. 

(III.)  The  Bible,  in  various  ways,  COMMENDS  absti 
nence.  1.  Paradise  was  not  wrongly  constructed ;  yet, 
amidst  the  perfect  adaptations  of  food  and  drink  to  the 
wants  of  our  perfect  originals,  alcohol  found  no  place. 
To  you  "  it  shall  be  for  meat,"  applied  to  grain  and 
fruit,  —  not  to  that  artificial  and  fiery  product  which  re 
sults  from  their  fermentative  destruction.  2.  The  great 
host  of  the  Israelites,  under  God's  direction,  wandered 
forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  yet  he,  who  sent  them 
manna,  never  gave  them  inebriating  drink.  Who  can 
doubt  that,  had  such  drink  been  needed,  it  would  have 
been  provided?  How,  then,  can  alcholics  be  required  in 
the  more  genial  circumstances  of  common  life?  3. 
The  Nazarites  were  a  society  of  religious  abstainers, 
whose  pledge  was  drawn  out  by  God,  to  do  honor  to  him  ; 
and  took  rank  with  his  prophets.  The  Rechabites  were 
probably  voluntary  imitators  of  them,  —  outside  Kenites 
or  Arabians,  —  and  were  highly  commended  by  the  Al- 

nificance  of  the  first  miracle  of  Cana,  and  why  it  was  recorded  last?    (HI.) 


132  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

mighty  for  their  fidelity  to  the  pledge,  and  they  assign  an 
excellent  reason  for  their  practice,  —  "that  they  might 
live  long  in  the  land  ;  "  which  they  did.  The  Bible,  then, 
implies  that  teetotalism  is  a  physiological  law  or  truth. 
The  case  of  Adam  and  Eve  involves  this,  as  part  of  the 
best  possible  condition.  The  Nazarites,  Daniel,  etc., 
prove  it  by  their  experience,  for  they  were  "  ruddier," 
"fairer,"  and  "  fatter  in  flesh,"  than  the  drinking  Jews. 
But  Samson's  case  is  still  more  emphatic,  since  an 
angel  was  twice  sent  with  instructions  as  to  abstinence, 
before  the  birth  of  the  strong  one.  Science  shows  the 
reason.  Dr.  Smith's  "  Experimental  Researches"  say, 
u  Alcohol  greatly  lessens  muscular  tone."  Tom  Sayers 
and  Heenan,  the  well-mated  champions  of  the  prize 
ring,  were  obliged  to  train  on  teetotal  diet.  These, 
then,  are  but  reverberations  from  a  truth  well  known  in 
heaven  3000  years  ago.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that 
the  pledge  was  a  mere  whim,  without  any  physiological 
significance  or  results.  "In  the  beginning,"  as  the 


Lord  argued  concerning  marriage,  the  modern 
was  not.  The  first  of  men  and  the  fairest  of  women 
were  constituted  teetotalers.  Samson,  the  strong  man, 
Samuel,  the  holy  founder  of  the  school  of  the  prophets, 
and  John,  more  than  a  prophet,  were  striking  examples 
of  God's  favor  upon  the  system.  It  could  not  be  for  no 
reason  in  the  nature  of  things  that  teetotalism  was  made 
the  antecedent  to  primitive  perfection,  to  physical  power, 
to  mental  intelligence,  and  to  spiritual  purity.  4.  Absti 
nence  was  taught  as  a  necessary  physical  preparation  for 

In  what  \vaya  does  Ihe  I?iblc  commend  abstinence?    Give  Dr.  TVarcllaw's 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPER AXCE.        133 

moral  purity  and  spiritual  efficiency :  (a)  In  the  cases  of 
Samuel  and  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  forerunner  of  the 
Lord.  (6)  In  the  case  of  the  priests  (Lev.  x.)  that  they 
might  distinguish  holy  from  profane,  (c)  In  the  case  of  the 
Nazarites,  that  they  might  illustrate  at  once,  and  volun 
tarily,  the  virtues  of  self-denial  and  purity.  The  law  of 
prohibition  to  the  priests  means  this  :  "  As  men,  do 
your  own  work  your  own  way,  but  while  wearing  my 
insignia,  and  acting  as  my  servants,  the  work  shall  be 
done  in  your  natural  state  free  from  disturbing  drink." 
That  to  Nazarites  implies,  that  "  ks  I  accept  sacrifices 
only  that  have  no  spot  or  taint,  so  I  accept  your  living 
sacrifice  on  condition  that  you  are  unpolluted  with  the 
poison  and  the  mocker,  (d)  To  this  we  may  add  the 
significant  advice,  "It  is  not  for  kings  to  drink 
wine." 

(IV.)   The  Bible,  by  various  methods  of  teaching,  ex 
hibits  the  MANIFOLD  EVILS  of  the  US6  of  STRONG  DRINKS.      1. 


*  It  seems  singular  that  the  lesson  has  not  been  learned  before,  and  yet 
commentators  have  sometimes  been  on  the  very  verge  of  the  truth.  Dr. 
"VVardlaw,  of  Glasgow,  has  this  excellent  comment  on  "Trov.  xxxi.,  1-5. 
The  principle  of  the  caution  is  applied  to  the  priests,  '  whose  lips  should 
keep  their  knowledge,  as  being  messengers  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.'  —  (Lev.  x. 
10.)  But  such  maxims  and  cautions  apply  to  all.  [Why  not  the  Divine 
remedy?]  In  all,  at  all  times,  in  all  places,  and  in  all  circumstances,  the 
mind  ought  to  be  in  entire  and  undisturbed  possession  and  exercise  of  its 
powers,  for  the  transaction  of  business,  for  the  discharge  of  duty,  for  the 
avoidance  of  temptation.  In  every  instance  in  which,  even  in  the  slightest 
degree,  the  regular  exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  mind  is  affected  and  im 
paired,  there  is  sin.  But  let  it  not  be  even  thus  limited.  Let  it  not  be  imag 
ined  that  no  sin  is  committed,  unless,  in  some  degree  or  other,  there  is  the 
unsettlement  of  reason.  There  may  be  a  large  amount  of  sin,  where  there 
is  nothing  of  the  kind."—  ("  Lectures  on  Proverbs.") 


comment  on  Trov.  xxxi.  1-5.    (IV.)  State  the  manifold  evils,  under  four 


134  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

God  uses  intoxicating  wine  as  the  constant  symbol  of  wick 
edness  and  punishment.  Kliemali  is  the  poison  of  the  cup 
of  wrath,  —  the  maddening  element,  —  which  is  to  the 
soul  what  physical  poison  is  to  the  bod}7.  From  Moses 
to  John  this  expressive  symbolism  prevails.  All  the  im 
agery  of  the  prophets  is  pervaded  with  the  idea  of  the 
evil  of  strong  drink.  2.  God  shows  us,  in  the  biography 
of  his  people,  how  prophets,  patriarchs,  and  priests  fell 
into  sin  "  through  wine,"  and  were  "  swallowed  up  "  of 
strong  drink.  Solomon  simply  condenses  history,  and 
probably  his  own  experience,  when  he  says,  "  Wine  is 
a  mocker."  That  is  its  essence  in  relation  to  the  soul. 
3.  God  teaches  us  that  the  great  cause  of  perversion  in 
his  people,  as  Church  and  Nation,  after  centuries  of 
varied  education  and  discipline,  of  unexampled  laws 
and  privileges,  social,  sanitary,  and  political,  —  was  the 
love  of  drink.  "  What  more  could  I  do  for  you?  "  saith 
the  Lord.  "  Why,  then,  when  I  looked  for  grapes,  do  I 
find  poisonous  (or  wild)  grapes?"  The  answer  of  the 
prophets  is  still  the  same.  Amos  sums  up  the  whole  in 
four  transgressions ;  and  the  four  resolve  themselves 
into  one  cause.  (1.)  The  judges  passed  unjust  ver 
dicts,  to  get  lines  for  drink  to  be  consumed  in  the  holy 
places.  (2.)  They  commanded  the  prophets  to  cease, 
unless  they  would  prophesy  of  wine  and  strong  drink. 
(3.)  They  tempted  the  Nazarites  to  break  their  pledge, 
because  their  sobriety  was  a  standing  rebuke  to  them 
selves.  (4.)  They  cared  not  for  the  "  affliction  of 
Joseph,"  but  drank  wine  in  bowls  —  (Compare  Amos  ii. 

heads,  ascribed  to  strong  drink.     (V.)  In  what  way  docs  the  Bible  proclaim 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  135 

6  ;  Micali  ii.  11  ;  Isaiah  v.)  For  these  sins,  it  is  said, 
"  Therefore  shall  they  go  into  captivity  ;  "  and  it  is  re 
markable  that  they  learned  sobriety  at  last  in  the  court 
of  Cyrus,  the  magian  teetotaler,  —  royal  fashion  and  Per 
sian  philosophy  doubtless  co-operating  to  that  end.  In 
this  sublime  history  we  see  evil  constantly  associated 
with  intoxicating  drink  ;  and  exhibited  as  the  h:  ndrance 
to  God's  own  teaching.  How  vain,  then,  to  expect  that 
our  laws  and  crotchets  will  triumph  over  this  sin,  where 
his  distinctly  failed  !  The  lesson  to  be  learned  is,  that 
the  church  can  only  cure  intemperance  by  banishing  its 
causes. 

(V.)  The  Bible  PROCLAIMS  abstinence  to  be  the  CURE 
for  drinking.  By  approved  examples,  by  advice,  bless 
ing,  warning,  and  exhortation  (as  we  have  seen),  the 
wise  Jews  might  have  clearly  known  the  Divine  will  on 
this  subject.  But  they  despised  the  lesson,  and  would 
be  taught  only  through  suffering  and  captivity.  Yet 
there  was  one  invincible  example,  which  nothing  but 
stolidity  could  misunderstand.  God  interfered  not  with 
the  ordinary  life  of  his  people  unless  in  matters  which 
transgressed  not  only  the  ends  but  the  channels  of  Reve 
lation.  But  in  Leviticus,  the  10th  chapter,  a  case  is 
recorded  where  strong  drink  having  threatened  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  it  must  be  effectually 
and  instantly  dealt  with.  Within  the  limits  of  the 
priesthood  and  the  work  of  the  tabernacle  —  in  brief,  the 
sphere  of  the  Divine  service,  both  as  to  time  and  place, 
—  the  end  desired  is  absolute  sobriety.  What  did 

abstinence  ns  the  cure  for  intemperance  ?    Answer  an  objection. 


136  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Jehovah?  Issue  a  mere  warning  against  excess,  like 
modern  moralists,  priests,  and  preachers?  No,  but  an 
absolute  mandate,  interdicting  the  use  of  strong  drink 
in  his  service  and  in  his  temple  forever,  guarded  by  the 
terrible  penalty  of  death.  And  this  seems  to  have 
answered  its  end,  during  all  the  ages  of  the  Jewish  dis 
pensation.  The  wonder  is,  that  a  nation  so  afflicted 
with  the  degradations  and  depravities  of  drinking  could 
not  save  itself  by  extending  the  remedy  to  its  entire 
social  and  religious  life.  What  was  neither  needless, 
nor  unwise,  nor  extreme  in  God's  plan,  could  hardly  be 
folly  and  fanaticism  in  man. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  the  priests  were  free  to  drink 
at  other  times,  and  only  prohibited  the  use  of  wine  going 
into  the  tabernacle.  True,  they  were  left  "  free  agents  " 
as  regards  their  own  work,  and  they  abused  that  freedom 
sadly;  but  the  wisdom  of  prohibition,  and  the  reasons 
for  it,  remain  unchanged.  The  occasion  for  the  display 
of  the  Divine  wisdom  is  not  the  guiding  and  binding 
element,  but  the  fact  and  nature  of  its  display ;  and 
thus  the  "  specific  command  "  may  become  a  "  general 
commend." 

All  historical  teaching  must  be  limited  by  time, 
place,  and  circumstance ;  but  that  fact,  surely,  cannot 
erase  the  universal  truth  within  it.  It  is  the  express 
business  of  reason  to  separate  the  accidental  from  the 
essential,  and  hence  the  folly  of  attempting  to  evade 
the  foregoing  argument  by  reference  to  Ezekiel  xliv.  18, 
where,  along  with  the  renewal  of  the  prohibition  of  wine, 
the  priests  are  commanded  to  wear  linen  garments  and 
to  cut  their  hair  short !  No  doubt,  as  a  means  of  phys 
ical  cleanliness,  in  a  hot  climate  and  in  the  confined 


TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE.  137 

and  heated  labor  of  their  special  services,  this,  also,  was 
a  wise  provision  addressed  to  u  the  messengers  of  the 
Lord."  But  while  the  symbolism  and  peculiarity  of  that 
part  of  the  law  have  passed  away,  and  so  do  not  apply 
to  the  modern  minister,  the  reasons  for  the  prohibition 
of  wine  are  as  imperative  as  before.  Man  is  as  weak, 
and  wine  is  as  strong  as  ever.  Alcohol,  as  a  brain- 
poison,  disturbs  and  deceives  the  Christian  professor 
exactly  as  it  did  the  Jewish  priest ;  and  therefore  the 
obligation  of  this  part  of  the  Levitical  law  as  truly 
abides  as  any  portion  of  the  decalogue  itself. 

(VI.)  The  Bible  principle  of  PHILANTHROPY  enforces 
abstinence.  The  first  condition  of  doing  good  to  others 
is  to  strengthen  and  purify  ourselves.  It  has  been  seen 
that  abstinence,  both  as  a  dictate  of  self-denial  and  a 
regimen  of  reason,  not  only  does  good  to  the  individual, 
but  is  a  means  to  moral  and  social  ends  of  vast  impor 
tance.  The  prudential  maxims  of  the  New  Testament 
confirm  it.  "  Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil."  The 
Lord's  prayer  almost  enjoins  it.  "Lead  us  not  into 
temptation."  The  Apostle  Paul  implies  that  discipline 
of  temperance  was  needful  even  to  him.  The  Divine 
favor  is  promised  to  those  who  keep  themselves  from  all 
temptation  and  sin,  save  such  as  may  cross  them  in 
the  path  of  duty.  But  that  duty  is  often  made  very  plain 
in  the  course  of  life.  The  Divine  rule  is,  "  Do  good  as 
ye  have  opportunity."  If  eating  meat,  or  drinking  wine, 
or  anything,  threatens  evil  to  our  brother,  or  our  neigh 
bor,  then  we  must  abandon  the  pleasures  of  sense  for 
the  diviner  joys  of  philanthropy.  If  not,  we  sin  against 

(VI.)   In  what  way  does  the  Bible  principle  of  philanthropy  enforce  absti- 


138  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

our  brother  and  against  Christ.  "  lie  who  knoweth  to 
do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  In  obedi 
ence  to  this  higher  law,  and  to  the  light  which  Provi 
dence  casts  upon  it,  ought  not  strong  drinks  to  be  aban 
doned  by  Christian  professors?  The  good  that  needs 
doing,  the  evil  that  needs  destroying,  wait  upon  the 
adoption  of  tcetotalism.  Mrs.  Wightman,  of  Shrews 
bury,  who  has  reclaimed  so  many  drunkards,  and  achieved 
so  much  good,  was  for  years  prejudiced  against  absti 
nence,  in  favor  of  a  pre-formed  and  self-formed  religious 
theorj'.  But  human  nature  was  stubborn,  —  the  FACT 
remained ;  her  hopes  and  praj'ers  were  unavailing,  and 
her  theory  had  to  give  way.  The  gospel  and  drink  failed 
to  effect  a  social  reformation  ;  but  the  gospel  and  absti 
nence  achieved,  and  still  achieves,  marvellous  and  mani 
fold  results  of  the  most  blessed  kind.  So  must  the  right 
agency  ever  do. 

Thus  it  may  be  seen,  even  from  the  bare  summary  of 
our  case,  how  the  varied  language  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  and  the  known  facts  of  antiquity,  conspire 
to  establish  every  portion  of  our  critical  theory ;  how 
each  separate  fact  and  phrase  finds  its  fitting  place  in 
the  temple  of  truth ;  and  how  it  is  made  manifest  that 
Holy  Scripture  concurs  with  moral  and  physical  sci 
ence  in  teaching  abstinence  from  narcotic  poisons,  —  a 
doctrine  which  needs  to  be  reiterated  afresh  from  the 
pulpits  of  Christendom,  until  the  torpid  conscience  is 
aroused,  and  the  great  obstacle  to  the  progress  and  tri 
umph  of  the  gospel  is  removed  out  of  the  way. 

nencc  ?    What  is  the  higher  law  ?    What  held  back  Mrs.  Wightman  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  139 


vn. 


103.  Were  the  subject  of  intemperance,  as  it  inter 
weaves  itself,  not  with  the  multiplied  and  minute  cir 
cumstances  of  social  and  domestic  life,  but  with  the 
more  public  and  memorable  events  of  National  History, 
to  be  treated  in  detail,  it  would  swell  into  one  of  the 
largest  volumes  ever  written.  Here  we  can  only  record 
the  leading  facts  of  history  as  they  bear  upon  the  prob 
lem  to  be  solved,  —  first,  those  that  point  to  the  nature 
and  spread  of  the  evil  ;  second,  those  which  indicate  a 
partial  or  a  perfect  cure. 

And,  first,  no  idea  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than 
that  which  explains  intemperance,  either  as  a  matter  of 
race,  or  of  climate.  It  is  one  of  those  hasty  generaliza 
tions  which  shallow  intellects  grasp  at,  and  interested 
persons  propagate.  Pretending  to  be  a  philosophical 
induction,  it  is  in  reality  contradicted  by  the  most 
varied  facts  of  history,  which  clearly  show  that  the  very 
same  races,  at  different  periods,  have  been  the  alternate 
subjects  of  drunkenness  and  of  sobriety,  and  that  the 
vice  of  intemperance  has  prevailed  equally  in  the  torrid, 
the  temperate,  and  the  frigid  zones.  The  facts  of  which 
we  shall  now  give  specimens,  —  selected  from  regions, 


103.  Has  race  or  climate  much  to  do  with  the  prevalence  of  intemperance? 
Why  must  the  hypothesis  be  discarded  \ 


140  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

epochs,  and  conditions  most  widely  apart,  —  also  show, 
that  (apart  from  abstinence),  no  variations  of  social  life, 
no  diversities  of  civilization,  no  forms,  or  development 
of  religious  faith,  have  secured  an  exemption  from  the 
wide-spread  curse  of  intemperance,  —  a  malady  and  a 
vice  which  have  penetrated  alike  the  hut,  the  mansion, 
and  the  palace,  the  wigwam  of  the  savage,  the  tent  of  the 
Tartar,  and  the  home  of  the  European,  and  desecrated, 
with  equal  stain,  the  tabernacles  of  Judaism,  the  pago 
das  of  paganism,  and  the  shrines  of  Christendom. 

104.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  amongst  the  few  frag 
ments  of  lost  historical  books  and  antique  literature  relat 
ing  to  the  "  world's  gray  fathers,"  which  have  been  pre 
served  to  us,  several  striking  notices  of  intemperance 
and  its  remedy  are   found.     A  page  of  Megasthenes* 
"  History  of  India,"  cited  by  Strabo,  shows  that  the  high 
est,  most  .religious,  and   cultured  castes  of  Hindostan 
were  then,  and  from  time  immemorial   had  been,  ab 
stainers,  — "  the  Brachmans,  the    Germanas,  and  the 
Hylobious,"  or  physicians. 

The  fifth  and  last  of  the  "Pentalogne  of  Buddha" 
(B.  C.  560)  runs  thus  :  — 

"  Obey  the  law,  and  walk  steadily  in  the  path  of  purity,  and 
[to  do  this]  drink  not  liquors  that  intoxicate  and  disturb  the 
reason" 

105.  A  celebrated  work  by  Porphyry  contains  a  page 
of  a  lost  work,  by  Chaeremon,  librarian  in  one  of  the 
sacred  temples  in  Egypt,  which  has  a  very  instructive 


104.  Was  teetotalisnvan  ancient  doctrine  ?    State  two  remarkable  exam 
ples  concerning  India. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  141 

passage,  enouncing  a  doctrine,  both  substantially  and 
verbally  identical  with  that  of  the  book  of  Proverbs 
(xxxiii.  30,  31).  He  says  of  the  priests:  "Some  of 
them  [the  higher]  did  not  drink  ivine  at  all,  and  others 
[inferior]  drank  veiy  little  of  it,  on  account  of  its  being 
injurious  to  the  nerves,  oppressive  to  the  head,  an  impedi 
ment  to  invention,  and  an  incentive  to  lust."  Plutarch 
informs  us,  that  even  the  priests  of  inferior  deities 
"  were  strictly  prohibited  its  use  during  their  most  sol 
emn  purifications  ;  "  that  "  wine  was  wholly  forbidden 
to  the  kings,"  who  were  also  high-priests ;  and  that 
Psametik,  600  B.C.,  was  the  first  of  the  regal  line 
that  drank  it. 

In  the  Hieratic  Papyri  (Anastasi,  No.  4),  Letter  xi. 
contains  a  very  singular  and  instructive  passage,  writ 
ten,  nearly  4,000  j'ears  ago,  by  an  Egyptian  priest  and 
tutor,  Amen-em-an,  to  his  young  pupil,  Penta-our,  who, 
afterwards,  becoming  steady  and  reclaimed,  rose  to  the 
dignity  of  court-poet  to  one  of  the  Pharaohs  :  — 

"  It  lias  been  told  me  that  tliou  hast  forsaken  books,  and 
devoted  thyself  to  sensuality ;  that  tliou  goest  from  tavern  to 
tavern,  smelling  of  beer  (henk}  at  eventide.  If  beer  gets  into 
a  man,  it  overcomes  thy  mind;  thou  art  like  an  oar  started 
from  its  place ;  like  a  house  without  food,  with  shaky  walls. 
If  thou  wieldest  the  rod  of  office,  men  run  away  from  thee. 
Thou  knowest  that  wine  is  an  abomination;  thou  hast  taken  an 
oath  (or  pledge)  concerning  strong  drink,  that  thou  wouldst 


105.  Was  abstinence  known  in  ancient  Egypt  ?  "What  does  a  certain  li 
brarian  say  ?  Does  Plutarch  mention  it  ?  Who  mentions  beer  in  ancient 
times  ?  What  was  "  wine  "  esteemed  ?  Did  taverns  have  a  bad  reputation 
then,  as  now?  Give  the  testimony  of  a  certain  letter.  Were  temperance 
pledges  known  ?  Give  the  proof, 


142  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE, 

not  put  such  [liquor]  into  thee. 
oath?"* 

Shortly  comes  another  letter,  from  this  Egj*ptian  bish 
op,  resuming  the  allusion  to  the  temperance  pledge  :  — 

"I  have  heard  it  said,  thou  goest  after  pleasure.  Turn  not 
thy  face  from  my  advice  !  or  dost  thou  really  give  thy  heart  to 
all  the  words  of  the  votaries  of  indulgence  ?  Thy  limbs  are 
alive,  then,  but  thy  heart  is  asleep.  I,  thy  superior,  forbid  thee 
to  go  to  the  taverns.-f  Thou  art  degraded  like  the  beasts!  But 
ice  see  many  like  thee,  —  haters  of  books ;  they  honor  not 
God.  God  regards  not  the  breakers  of  pledges,  —  the  illiterate. 
When  young  as  thou,  I  passed  my  time  under  discipline ;  it 
tamed  my  members.  When  three  months  had  ended,  I  was 
dedicated  to  the  house  of  God.  I  became  one  of  the  first  in 
all  kinds  of  learniny"  % 

In  contrast  with  the  ancient  Egyptians,  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  modern  Copts  are  a  sober  people,  what 
ever  the  explanation  may  be. 

106.  Persia  was,  no  doubt,  the  primitive  seat  of  the 

*  There  was  a  sort  of  Burton-upon-Trent  even  then.  In  a  letter  following 
the  one  just  cited,  we  find  these  passages  :  "  The  way  up  to  Dja  is  covered 
with  palms,  yielding  nothing  fit  to  eat  save  their  dates,  not  yet  ripe.  .  .  I 
shall  walk  like  one  strong  in  bone,  traversing  the  marshes  on  foot.  Then 
let  the  barrels  be  opened,  which  are  full  of  Beer  (helc  or  lienk)  of  Kati.n  Or 
was  this  Gath  of  the  Philistines,  and  the  liquor  palm-wine  ? 

t  See  Heath's  "  Exod.  Papyri.  »    (PI.,  cxi.,  §  3.) 

J  How  wonderful  to  see  the  present  in  the  past !  It  is  the  old,  old  story  I 
Man  and  drink !  drink  and  man  1  evermore  the  same  in  their  mutual  rela 
tions;  yet  each  generation  as  stupid  as  the  one  that  went  before,  always  re 
newing  the  lesson,  but  never  coming  to  a  conviction  of  the  truth  I  The 
Egyptian  priest  says  :  "  '  wine '  is  an  abomination,"  and  he  commands  that 
a  moral  person  should  abstain  from  it,  and  not  even  go  to  the  tavern  where  it 
is  sold  and  drank.  Solomon  and  the  apostles  use  exactly  similar  language; 
but  modern  critics,  looking  at  it  through  modern  tastes  and  customs,  actually 
transform  their  words  into  an  apology  for  sipping  "  wine,"  and  sitting  at 
feasts ! 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  143 

Aryan,  or  European  and  Hindoo  races.  One  of  its 
ancient  religions  regarded  wine  as  an  instrument  of  .the 
evil  power.  When  history  opens  it  up  to  us,  the  people 
were  very  temperate.  In  the  words  of  Herodotus, 
"Strangers  to  the  taste  of  wine,  they  drank  water 
only."  On  this  regimen,  Cyrus  conquered  the  East ; 
with  a  departure  from  it,  began  the  decline  of  that  great 
empire.  It  is  singular  that  the  deviation  commenced 
•with  the  medical  deception.  According  to  Anquetil,  in 
the  reign  of  "  Jemsheed,  a  cure  performed  on  a  lady  of 
the  court  rendered  the  use  of  wine  common.  Until 
then  it  had  been  considered  only  as  a  remedy."  *  Thus, 
by  a  fallacy  of  appetite,  common  in  our  day,  what  was 
adapted  to  disease  came  to  be  consumed  daily  in  health. 
On  this  change  of  manners  and  morals,  Professor  Raw- 
linson,  says :  — 

"  The  Persians,  even  of  the  better  sort,  were  in  the  earlier 
times  noted  for  their  temperance  and  sobriety.  Their  ordinary 
food  was  wheateu  bread,  barley  cakes,  and  meat  simply  roasted 
or  boiled,  which  they  seasoned  with  salt  and  with  bruised 
cress-seed,  —  a  substitute  for  mustard.  The  sole  drink  in  which 
they  indulged  was  water.  Moreover,  it  was  their  habit  to  take 
one  meal  only  each  day.  The  poorer  kind  of  people  were  con 
tented  with  even  a  simpler  diet,  supporting  themselves,  to  a 
great  extent,  on  the  natural  products  of  the  soil,  as  dates,  figs, 
wild  pears,  acorns,  and  the  fruit  of  the  terebinth  tree,  But 
these  abstemious  habits  were  soon  laid  aside,  and  replaced  by 
luxury  and  self-indulgence,  when  the  success  of  their  arms  had 

*  "  Universal  History, "  vol.  i.,  p.  300. 


100.  "What  was  the  condition  of  the  ancient  Tersians  ?    Give  the  testimony 
of  Herodotus  and  Ilawlinsou. 


144 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


put  it  in  their  power  to  have  the  full  and  free  gratification  of 
all  their  desires  and  propensities.     .     .     . 

"  Instead  of  water,  wine  became  the  usual  beverage ;  each 
man  prided  himself  on  the  quantity  he  could  drink;  and  the 
natural  result  followed, —  that  most  banquets  terminated  in  gen 
eral  intoxication.  Drunkenness  even  came  to  be  a  sort  of  institu 
tion.  Oifce  a  year,  at  the  feast  of  Mithras,  the  King  of  Persia, 
according  to  Duris,  was  bound  to  be  drunk.  A  general  practice 
arose  of  deliberating  on  all  important  affairs  under  the  influ 
ence  of  wine,  so  that  in  every  household,  when  a  family  crisis 
impended,  intoxication  was  a  duty."  * 

107.  The  Arabs,  like  the  Jews,  were,  at  one  time, 
addicted  to  shameful  excess  in  drinking.  Mohamed 
found  them  so  besotted  that  they  worshipped  sticks  and 
stones.  Yet,  from  a  perception  of  the  enormous  evils 
of  strong  drink,  as  Warnerius  observes,  "  the  more 
devout  pagan  Arabs  totally  abstained  from  wine  long 
before  the  birth  of  Mohamed."  That  great  lawgiver, 
in  words  almost  parallel  with  the  injunction  of  the 
apostles,  gave  forth  a  law,  which  has  more  affected  for 
good  the  millions  of  the  Eastern  populations,  —  Tar 
tars,  Turks,  Persians,  Hindoos,  Arabs,  Egyptians,  and 
Moors,  —  than  any  other  institution  which  was  ever  set 
up  amongst  them  :  — 

THE  KORAN,  v.  7. 

"  0  true  believers,  surely  wine  and  lots  arc  an  abomination, 
A  SNARE  OF  SATAN,  therefore  avoid  them.  SATAN  seekcth  to 

*  "  Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  iv.  Amongst  the  later  Jews,  at  the  Feast 
of  Lots,  a  similar  practice  prevailed  as  at  the  fea?t  of  Mithras.  The  Rabbis 
held  that  they  were  "  bound  to  be  drunk.''  The  connection  is  historical. 


107.  What  was  the  state  of  the  Arabs  before  Moharaed's  day  1    What  did 
ne  decree  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  145 

sow  dissension  and  hatred  by  means  of  wine  and  lots ;  will  ye 
not,  therefore,  abstain  from  them?" 

2  TIM.  ii.  26. 

"And  they  becoming  sober  again  out  of  the  SNARE  OF  THE 
DEVIL,  who  are  taken  captive  at  his  will." 

l  PETER  v.  8. 

"  Drink  not,  be  watchful,  for  THE  DEVIL  walketh  about  seek 
ing  whom  he  may  drink  down." 

108.  The  Nabathseans  named  by  Diodorns,  of  Sicily 
(B.  C.  60),  lived  in  Central  Arabia,  and  their  vow  closely 
resembled  that  of  the  Eechabites,  who  were  probably  a 
portion  of  the  aboriginal  tribe.  Doubtless  these,  and 
the  Pythagoreans  and  Persian  magii,  after  the  captiv 
ity,  had  great  influence  in  modifying  opinion  and  prac 
tice  in  the  region  of  Palestine.  The  Apocrypha  and 
Secular  History  indeed  make  certain  the  fact  of  the  in 
fluence  amongst  the  pre-Christian  Jews,  and  the  early 
Christians,  —  so  much  so,  that  unless  we  read  the  New 
Testament  in  the  light  of  this  fact,  many  of  its  allusions, 
even  its  words,  will  fail  to  yield  up  the  truth  to  us  which 
was  patent  to  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  the  original 
was  addressed.  Mr.  Jowett,  M.  A.,  the  Professor  of 
Greek  at  Oxford,  may  be  cited  as  an  impartial  author- 
ity:- 

"  Such  examples  (as  Daniel  and  Tobit)  show  what  the  Jews 
had  learned  to  practise  or  admire  in  the  centuries  immediately 
preceding  the  Christian  era.  So  John  the  Baptist  '  fed  on  lo- 


108.  How  was  this  influence  felt,  and  where  manifested  ?    Who  witnesses 
to  the  temperance  opinion  and  practice  in  the  early  church  ? 
10 


146  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

custs  and  wild  honey.'  A  later  age  delighted  to  attribute  a 
similar  abstinence  to  James,  the  brother  of  our  Lord  (Hegesip- 
pus  apud  Euseb.  //.  E.  ii.  23)  ;  and  to  Matthew  (Clemens  Alex- 
andriniis,  Poc.d.  ii.  2,  p.  174)  ;  heretical  writers  added  Peter  to 
the  list  of  these  Encratites  *  (Epiph.  Her.  xxx.  2 ;  Clemens, 
Horn.  xii.  6).  The  Apostolic  Canons  (xliii.)  admit  an  ascetic 
abstinence,  but  denounce  those  who  abstain  [like  the  Magi 
and  Manichees]  from  any  sense  of  the  impurity  of  matter.  (See 
passages  quoted  in  Fritshe,  iii.  p.  151.)  Jewish,  as  well  as 
Alexandrian  and  Oriental,  influences  combined  to  maintain  the 
practice  in  the  first  centuries.  Long  after  it  had  ceased  to  be 
a  Jewish  scruple,  it  remained  as  a  counsel  of  perfection." 

Theodoret  (A.  D.  172)  remarks  of  Tatian,  that  "he 
abhors  the  use  of  wine."  Augustine  reproaches  "  the 
Manichees  with  being  so  perverse  that  while  they  refuse 
wine  (vinum),  and  call  it  the  gall  of  the  Prince  of  Dark 
ness  (fel  principiis  tenebrarum),  they  nevertheless  eat  of 
grapes." 

Epiphanius,  Bishop  of  Salamis,  says  of  the  Encratites, 
"They  did  not  use  wine  at  all,  saying,  it  was  of  the 
Devil ;  and  that  drinking  and  using  it  was  sinful."  This 
was  evidently  said  of  intoxicating  wine,  not  of  the  nat 
ural  juice  of  the  grapes,  which  they  are  foolishly 
charged  with  inconsistently  sucking. 

Photius  observes  of  the  Severians,  "  They  were 
averse  to  wine  as  the  cause  of  drunkenness." 

From  this  doctrine,  propagated  to  the  Eremites  of 
the  desert,  and  the  later  monks  of  the  Arabian  border, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Mohained  borrowed  his 
famous  dictum :  "Of  the  fruit  of  the  grape  ye  obtain 
an  inebriating  liquor,  and  also  good  nourishment"  He 

*  This  is  the  New  Testament  word  for  "  Temperance,"  yet  applied  by  the 
niicieuts  to  abstainers.    Surely,  they  understood  their  own  language. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  141 

issued  an  interdict  against  the  one,  but  never  against  the 
other.  The  hostile  spirit  of  controversy,  in  the  early  ages, 
however,  led  to  the  doctrine  being  repudiated  in  toto  by  the 
triumphant  party,  and  thus  the  association  of  a  practical 
truth  with  real  or  supposed  errors  was,  for  want  of  log 
ical  discrimination,  the  unhappy  cause  of  great  subse 
quent  corruption  of  life  in  the  Christian  Church.  The 
dark  ages  set  in,  followed  by  the  sceptical,  and  it  is  only 
in  our  day  that  men  are  rising  above  the  mists  and 
looking  once  more  at  the  original  and  abiding  facts. 

109.  The  most  remarkable  of  all  the  religious  com 
munities  of  antiquity,  were  the  ESSENES  and  THERA- 
FEUTLE,  with  their  kindred  associates.  We  are  indebted 
for  our  knowledge  of  them  to  two  writers, — namely, 
Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  and  Philo,  another  Jew 
of  the  Alexandrian  school.  Their  tenets  and  practices, 
in  many  curious  particulars,  bore  so  great  a  resemblance 
to  those  of  the  early  Christians,  that  some  learned 
writers  have  contended  that  they  were  Christians,  pro 
tecting  themselves  from  persecution  and  probable  ex 
tinction  under  the  veil  of  a  secret  orthodox  sect. 

Josephus  thus  writes  of  them  in  his  "  Jewish  Antiqui 
ties  "  (xAr.  11),  —  "  These  men  live  the  same  kind  of  life 
as  do  those  whom  the  Greeks  call  Pythagoreans."  .  .  . 

In  his  "  Wars"  (ii.  8),  he  further  says  :  — 

"The  Essenes  are  Jews  by  nation,  and  a  society  of  men 
friendly  to  each  other  beyond  what  is  to  be  found  among 
any  other  people.  They  have  an  aversion  to  sensuous  pleas 
ure  in  the  same  manner  as  to  that  which  is  truly  evil.  Tem- 


109.  Who  were  the  Essenes  and  Therapeutic  ?    Give  Josephus'  description 
of  them.    What  do  these  facts  evidence  in  the  background  ? 


14:8  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

perance  (teen  enkrateiari),  and  to  keep  their  passions  in  sub 
jection,  they  esteem  a  virtue  of  the  first  order.  TJiey  are 
long-livers,  so  that  many  of  them  arrive  to  the  age  of  a  hundred 
years ;  which  is  to  be  ascribed  to  their  simple  and  plain  diet ; 
and  the  temperance  and  good  order  observed  in  all  things." 

Behind  these  facts  concerning  ancient  teetotalism, 
there  rests  a  deep,  dark  shadow,  lit  up  anon  with  a 
lurid  glare,  the  evidence  of  a  still  more  ancient  intem 
perance.  Far  as  we  go  back,  —  beyond  the  verge  of 
history,  into  the  dim  twilight  of  tradition,  —  we  still 
find  the  traces  of  that  ruin  and  wretchedness  which  ever 
follow  in  the  track  of  strong  drink.  The  precautions 
and  protests  of  prudent  and  holy  men,  the  prohibitions 
of  the  All-wise,  the  associations  of  mankind  upon  the 
basis  of  a  common  bond  of  union,  a  protective  pledge 
and  badge  of  brotherhood,  point  to  a  terrible  background 
of  antecedent  mischief  and  misery,  to  a  long  experi 
ence  of  sorrowing  hearts,  of  broken  hopes,  of  blighted 
homes.  When  shall  the  cup  of  instruction  be  full? 

110.  Nor  is  modern  history  less  significant  and  con 
clusive  than  ancient.  If  Oriental  nations  and  tribes 
have  been  cursed  by  drink,  —  Kalmuck  and  Chinese, 
Hindoo,  Persian,  Arab  and  Copt,  Syrian  and  Jew,  — 
so  have  all  the  peoples  of  Europe,  Greek  or  Roman, 
from  the  southern  Sclavonian  to  the  Hibernian  Celt, 
from  the  Muscovite  and  the  Lap  to  the  Scandinavian 
tribes  of  many  lands  and  names,  Norwegian  or  Swede, 
Dane,  Norman,  and  Anglo-Saxon,  or  Anglo-American. 


110.  What  is  the  lesson  of  modern  history?  Name  some  of  the  nations, 
where  amidst, vast  varieties  of  social  and  physical  conditions,  intemperance 
still  riots. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  149 

In  this  experiment  races  may  mingle,  climates  may 
change,  social  conditions  may  be  revolutionized,  but 
the  old  nexus  remains,  —  drink,  drunkenness,  and  riot,  — 
drink  and  degradation,  drink  and  sensuality,  drink  and 
disease,  madness,  crime.  Italy,  with  its  happy  climate, 
Norway,  with  its  comfortable  homes,  France,  with  its 
wine,  Bavaria,  with  its  beer,  Prussia,  with  its  education, 
Ireland,  with  its  poverty,  England,  with  its  wealth, 
Scotland,  with  its  whiskey  and  religion,  our  own  Amer 
ican  States,  with  their  schools  and  freedom,  are,  one 
and  all,  examples  of  the  inefficacy  of  all  these  condi 
tions  even  to  arrest  the  growth  of  intemperance,  much 
less  to  suppress  and  extinguish  the  vice. 

111.  A  passage  or  two  from  Schlosser's  "  History  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,"  in  relation  to  Prussia  and 
Sweden,  will  be  instructive.  In  Prussia,  "  The  Council 
of  Education,  according  to  Biischmg,  who  was  a  mem 
ber,  used  every  possible  means  to  prevent  non-commis 
sioned  officers,  addicted  to  brandy,  or  incapable  invalids, 
from  being  appointed  teachers.  .  .  The  king  (Freder 
ick  II.)  insisted  that  his  invalids  should  be  provided 
for.  .  .  What,  however,  is  more  melancholy  than  all, 
is,  that  in  order  to  support  a  military  school  for  nobles, 
he  suffered  recourse  to  be  had  to  lotteries,  which,  as  is 
well  known,  are  as  rmnous  to  the  morals  of  the  poorest 
classes  of  the  people  as  brandy-drinking."  (Vol.  v.,  p.  7.) 
"  In  Sweden,  the  higher  estates  had,  by  law,  diminished 
the  enjoyment  of  brandy  to  the  peasantry ;  the  peas- 


111.  What  curious  legislation  is  recorded  concerning  Prussia  and  Sweden  ? 
What  was  the  effect  of  extending  free  licenses  in  Sweden  ?  Has  that  policy 
been  reversed,  and  with  what  result  ? 


150  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

ants,  therefore,  were  desirous  of  avenging  themselves  by 
insisting  upon  the  prohibition  of  coffee.  .  .  The  noble 
Hanoverian  oligarchs  decreed  that  the  peasants  should 
no  longer  drink  coffee ! "  (p.  12.)  Thus  the  government 
made  it  easy  to  do  wrong  and  hard  to  do  right. 

"  Gustavus  (1775)  had  recourse  to  the  Russian  prin 
ciple  respecting  the  distillation  of  spirits,  and  intro 
duced  it  into  Sweden.  This  new  privilege  proved  ruin 
ous  to  the  country,  because  the  income  of  the  monarch 
increased  just  in  proportion  as  the  morality,  health,  and 
prosperity  of  the  people  declined.  The  ruin  and  corrup 
tion  of  a  nation,  which  had  been,  for  ages,  distinguished 
for  the  vigor  and  simplicity  of  the  people,  were  effected 
by  converting  the  corn  necessary  for  their  subsistence,  and 
which  was  even  partly  imported,  into  liquid  poison, 
and  that  too  to  increase  the  revenues  of  the  crown." 
(Vol.  iv.,  p.  370.)  Of  late  years,  the  old  bad  policy 
has  been  discarded,  especially  in  Norwa}?",  in  conse 
quence  of  the  earnest  agitation  of  the  temperance  ques 
tion  ;  and,  now,  the  corn  grown  is  found  to  be,  not  only 
adequate  to  the  subsistence  of  the  people,  but  affords 
a  large  surplus  for  exportation. 

Sweden  furnishes  yet  another  example.  It  has  a  full 
and  active  machinery  for  instruction ;  3ret,  excluding 
offences  against  the  forest  laws,  there  was,  in  1830,  one 
criminal  to  320  of  the  population  ;  and  one  crime  in  11 
was  committed  in  drink.  From  1785  to  1825,  the  popu 
lation  increased  20  per  cent.,  but  the  consumption  of 
brandy  400  per  cent.,  notwithstanding  the  education.* 

*  "  Swedish  clergy  highly  educated  and  intelligent  (p.  303).  A  great  vari 
ety  of  educational  establishments  exist,  both  private  and  public.  The  order 
of  the  peasants  (yeomen)  number  2,500,000,  and  own  double  the  property 
of  all  other  classes  put  together."  —  ("  Scott's  Travels,"  p.  322-3.) 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  151 

Hence  "  it  is  well  that  we  should  guard  ourselves 
against  undue  and  extravagant  expectations  of  the 
amount  of  good  to  be  derived  from  school  instruction. 
Centuries  of  education  will  not  remove  the  evils  of  bad 
and  mischievous  customs  and  laws,  which  form,  in  fact, 
an  indirect  education  of  another  kind,  often  more  pow 
erful  and  lasting  in  its  influence  than  any  series  of  les 
sons  taught  within  the  walls  of  a  school-room."  * 

112.  Prussia,  notwithstanding  her  unexampled  edu 
cation,  is  a  striking  example  of  the  essential  tendency 
of  alcoholic  liquors  to  create  an  ever-increasing  demand 
for  themselves,  and  thus  to  perpetuate  the  evils  of 
intemperance.  The  following  facts  were  stated  at  a 
public  conference,  by  Dr.  Wald,  of  Konigsberg  :  — 

"  The  Zollverein  consumed  122  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of 
alcoholic  liquors.  Berlin  in  1844,  compared  with  1745,  had  one 
church  less,  and  1,500  taverns  more.  Out  of  GO  children  under 
6,  in  the  Orphan  Asylum,  40  had  been  taught  to  sip  drams,  and 
9  had  a  depraved  desire  for  them.  In  the  vale  of  Barmen,  — 
renowned  for  its  religious  character  or  profession, — with  a 
population  of  80,000,  not  less  than  13,000  were  habitual  dram- 
drinkers.  In  the  conscription  of  that  year  (1852)  for  a  dis 
trict  of  Western  Prussia,  out  of  174  young  men,  only  4  were 
admissible,  the  rest  being  physically  incapacitated  by  dram- 
drinking.  From  year  to  year,  prisons  and  lunatic  asylums 
became  more  crowded,  while  thousands  became  "permanently 
mad  through  delirium  tremens  (of  which  disease  about  100 
persons  die  annually  in  the  hospitals  of  Berlin  alone).  Drink- 

*  "Westminster  Review,"  vol.  xxxiv.  p.  69. 


112.  What  is  the  actual  condition  of  many  parts  of  Prussia,  as  respects 
the  effects  of  drink  ?  What  is  the  mortality  arising  from  excess,  in  Lai- 
bach  ? 


152  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

ing,  by  promoting  domestic  misery  and  discord,  occasions 
nine-tenths  of  the  increasing  divorces  of  the  country.  Fi 
nally,  one-half  of  the  entire  corn  and  potatoes  grown  in  the 
north  of  Germany  are  converted  into  spirits,  the  use  of  which 
had  increased  ninefold  since  1817."  * 

Malte-Brun,  the  geographer  (edition  of  1827),  had 
spoken  of  the  Northern  Germans  as  "  being  robust,  fru 
gal,  and  intelligent"  as  "  deprived  of  beer  and  spirits,"  — ?- 
"  while  the  Southern  Germans,  accustomed  to  wine,  are 
given  to  drunkenness  and  superstition."  Within  one 
generation,  then,  the  government  temptations  had  altered 
the  very  character  of  the  people.  Lippich  calculates, 
from  the  mortality  returns  in  Laibach,  that  120  of  the 
whole  population  perished  annually  from  excess,  and  that 
a  fourth  of  all  the  adults  who  died  there  might  have 
been  saved  by  abstinence.  The  conclusion  is  irresisti 
ble,  that  Germany  has  not  discovered  the  cure  for  drink 
ing. 

113.  The  philosopher  and  statistician,  Quetelet,  in  his 
great  work  on  human  development,!  explodes  the  fal 
lacy  that  France  is  a  temperate  country.  "Of  1,129 
murders  committed  during  the  space  of  four  years,  446 
have  been  in  consequence  of  quarrels  and  contentions  in 
taverns."  It  is  true  that  in  large  districts,  and  chiefly 
the  most  ignorant,  there  is  little  drunkenness  and  crime 
(a  fact  to  which  Quetelet  refers)  ;  but  that  is  owing  to 
the  fact  of  the  extreme  rarity  of  wine-shops,  and  to  the 

*  See  Eeport  of  Bremen  Conference.  Hertz,  Berlin,  1852. 
f  "  Sur  1'Homme  etle  Dcveloppement  de  ses  Facultes ; "  liv.  iiLc.  3.   (Brux- 
elles,  1829.) 

113.  What  does  Quetelet  record  as  to  French  crime  and  ita  cause?    What 


TEXT-BOOK   CF    TEMPERANCE.  153 

extreme  poverty  of  the  people.  In  the  rich  and  manu 
facturing  parts,  intemperance  and  its  resulting  evils 
abound.  Dr.  Morel,  of  the  St.  Yon  Asylum,  says,  in 
his  work  "  On  the  Degeneracy  of  the  Human  Race," 
that  "  there  is  always  a  hopeless  number  of  paralytic 
and  other  insane  persons,  in  our  hospitals,  whose  dis 
ease  is  due  to  no  other  cause  than  the  abuse  of  alcoholic 
liquors.  In  1,000  patients,  of  whom  I  have  made  special 
note,  at  least  200  owed  their  mental  disorder  to  no  other 
cause"  (p.  109.)  Many  more,  therefore,  would  be  indi 
rectly  affected  or  aggravated  by  drink.  M.  Behic,  in  his 
"  Report  on  Insanity,"  says,  "  Of  8,797  male,  and  7,069 
female  lunatics,  34  per  cent,  of  the  men,  and  6  of  the 
women,  were  made  insane  by  intemperance.  This  is  the 
most  potent  and  frequent  cause."  *  French  journals  note, 
that  years  of  plenty  in  the  wine-districts  are  years  of  dis 
order  and  crime  for  the  country  at  large.  The  "  Annals 
of  Hygienne,  "  for  1863,  observe,  that,  "  in  wine-growing 
countries,  delirium  tremens  and  alcoholism  are  most 
frequent."  (Tome  xxvii.,  p.  203.)  The  plain  fact  is, 
that,  though  partly  owing  to  the  temperament  of  the 
people,  and  partly  to  the  better  arrangements  of  the 
police,  outrageous  and  besotted  drunkenness  may  be 
less  frequent,  or  less  apparent,  yet  the  serious  and 
essential  evils  are  as  great  there  as  in  any  other  coun 
try.  Sensuality  pervades  their  life,  crime  is  very  prev 
alent,  suicides  are  in  excess,  population  is  arrested, 
and  extreme  longevity  is  rarer  than  in  almost  any  other 

*  "  Medical  Times,"  Jan.  1867,  p.  37. 


does  Dr.  Morel  say  of  insanity  and  drink?    What  M.  Behic?    What 


154  TEXT -BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

land.  In  France  everybody  drinks,  3roung  and  old, 
male  and  female,  and  we  find  one  centenarian  amongst 
360,000  persons  ;  in  the  United  States  of  America,  one 
in  every  9,000.  Sixteen  years  ago,  Dr.  Bell  estimated 
the  whole  of  the  alcohol  drank  in  France  in  the  shape 
of  spirit,  wine,  and  cider,  as  equal  to  four  gallons  of 
proof  spirit  per  head  annually,  for  all  ages,  men,  women, 
and  infants.  It  is  certainly  not  less  now.  Statistics 
obtained  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Delavan,  from  the  French  gov 
ernment,  in  1867,  enable  us  to  say  that  the  production 
of  wine  in  1865  was  rated  at  1,089,000,000  gallons,  and 
of  distilled  spirits  and  other  drinks,  427,746,000.  Of  this 
enormous  quantity,  of  which  only  a  small  proportion  is 
exported,  77,000,000  gallons  of  wine  are  consumed  in 
Paris  alone,  which  is  42  gallons  per  head  yearly  !  The 
cost  of  all  this  to  the  retail  consumer,  after  deducting 
one-third  for  drinks  exported,  cannot  be  less  than  one 
"billion  of  dollars,  —  one  thousand  million  of  dollars  spent 
in  what  is  not  food,  but  which  vitiates  the  morals, 
poisons  the  brain,  and  destroys  the  happiness  of  the 
people ! * 

In  France,  in  1856,  there  were  360,000  drink-shops, 
besides  inns,  cafes,  etc.  Over  all  France,  one  drunkery 
to  100  persons  of  all  ages.  De  Watteville,  the  econo 
mist,  puts  drinking  third  in  order  among  the  fifteen  di- 

*A.  Husson,  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  in  his  "  Consommations  de  Paris" 
(1856),  states  that  previous  to  1830,  each  Parisian  took  9  litres  (quarts)  of 
brandy  per  head  annually;  now  14  litres  (or  3|  gallons). 


tity  of  Alcohol,  estimated  as  proof  spirit,  is  consumed  in  France,  per  head  ? 
How  many  gallons  of  wine,  per  head,  in  Paris  ?  What  number  of  mere 
drinking-houses  are  there  in  France? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  155 

rect  causes  of  pauperism.  To  this  we  have  to  add  nearly 
five  millions  of  pounds  of  tobacco,  in  smoking  which  the 
emperor  and  empress  set  the  fashion!  With  such 
habits  and  temptations  and  examples  can  we  wonder 
that  every  third  birth  in  Paris  is  illegitimate,  and  that 
there  are  60,000  criminals  permanently  residing  in  the 
prisons  of  the  Seine?  Mr.  Dickens'  "  Household  Words," 
while  defending  the  beer-shop  at  home,  thus  discourses 
of  its  counterpart  abroad  :  — 

"  The  wine-shops  are  the  COLLEGES  and  CHAPELS  of  the  poor  in 
France.  History,  morals,  politics,  jurisprudence,  and  litera 
ture,  in  iniquitous  forms,  are  all  taught  in  these  colleges  and 
chapels,  where  professors  of  evil  continually  deliver  these  les-  • 
sons,  and  where  hymns  are  sung  nightly  to  the  demon  of  de 
moralization.  In  these  haunts  of  the  poor,  theft  is  taught  as 
the  morality  of  property ;  falsehood  as  the  morality  of  speech ; 
and  assassination  as  the  justice  of  the  people.  It  is  in  the 
wine-shop  the  cabman  is  taught  to  think  it  heroic  to  shoot  the 
middle-class  man  who  disputes  his  fare.  It  is  in  the  wine-shop 
the  workman  is  taught  to  admire  the  man  who  stabs  his  faith 
less  mistress.  It  is  in  the  wine-shop  the  doom  is  pronounced 
of  the  employer  who  lowers  the  pay  of  the  employed.  The 
wine-shops  breed  — in  a  physical  atmosphere  of  malaria,  and 
a  moral  pestilence  of  envy  and  vengeance  —  the  men  of  crime 
and  revolution.  Hunger  is  proverbially  a  lad  counsellor,  but 
drink  is  a  worse." 

114.  Even  in  benighted  France,  however,  there  is  here 
and  there  a  temperance  oasis,  —  a  green  spot  in  the 
waste.  In  the  little,  quaint  city  of  Villaneuvette,  there 

How  much  tobacco  is  consumed  ?    What  does  Mr.  Dickens'  periodical  call 
the  wine-shops  of  the  poor  ? 
114.  What  two  little  towns  in  France  prove  the  benefit  of  prohibiting  tha 


156  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

is  only  one  cafe  and  one  hotel,  both  closed  at  nine  o'clock. 
There  pauperism,  beggary,  and  illegitimacy  are  all  but 
unknown ;  and  the  people  live  long  and  happily.  At 
St.  Aubin  d'Ecrouville,  in  Normandy,  is  an  establish 
ment  for  the  production  of  those  beautiful  anatomical 
models  which  have  made  M.  Anzoux  so  well  known. 
He  educates  boys  to  this  artistic  work,  and  has  generally 
about  70  persons  in  his  employment.  Neither  smoking 
nor  drinking  is  allowed.  The  ouvriers  of  St.  Aubin 
never  enter  a  wine-shop,  nor  waste  a  sou  in  smoking. 
Their  hands  are  always  steady,  their  heads  always  clear. 
The  consequence  is,  that  they  economize  and  put  money 
in  the  bank.  What  was  formerly  a  beggarly,  dirty  vil 
lage  is  now  a  thriving  and  beautiful  little  town. 

In  European  Turkey,  amongst  another  race  of  people, 
and  in  a  beautiful  climate,  we  have  an  example  which 
should  be  instructive  to  America,  and  especially  to  the 
patrons  and  producers  of  Catawba  wine. 

Mr.  Schauffler,  American  Missionary  at  Constanti 
nople,  thus  wrote  in  1827  :  — 


"The  prevalence  of  drunkenness  upon  pure  wine  has  been  on 
the  increase  for  some  ten  years  past.  Before,  it  was  checked  by 
the  high  price  of  wine.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  poor 
German  farmers  [settled  in  Moldavia]  should  have  entered 
upon  a  field  of  industry  [wine-growing]  promising  in  pecuniary 
respects,  but  so  ruinous  in  its  moral  bearings.  The  number  of 
wine  houses  and  cellars  has  been  on  a  most  alarming  increase 
since  wine  has  become  indigenous.  It  has  often  been  said  that 


traffic,  and  shunning  the  public  house  ?  Give  the  particulars.  "What  is  the 
result  of  wine-making  in  European  Turkey?  Give  Mr.  Schauffler's  testi 
mony. 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  157 

pure  wine  did  not  produce  that  artificial  appetite  for  more. 
This  is  certainly  incorrect." 

Of  course  it  is,  for  alike  in  America,  Normandy,  and 
England,  experience  proves  that  cider  (which  is  apple- 
wine)  is  simply  a  stepping-stone  to  stronger  drinks ; 
not  a  preventative  but  a  provocative. 

115.  Great  Britain,  however,  perhaps,  provides  more 
varied  illustrations  of  the  whole  subject  of  intemper 
ance  and  its  remedy  than  any  other  modern  country, 
owing  to  the  diversity  of  its  laws,  institutions,  and  peo 
ples.  In  Scotland,  with  a  lowland  Saxon  and  a  high 
land  Celtic  population,  was  seen  the  prevalence  of  drink 
ing  in  all  ages,  from  the  most  barbarous  to  the  most 
refined,  —  drinking  in  peace  and  in  war,  in  castle  and 
bothie,  —  drinking  amongst  the  pious  and  profane,  with 
highland  cateran  and  chief,  with  town  bailie  or  lowland 
laird,  and  amongst  the  learned  and  polished  circles  of 
modern  Athens.  No  place  clean.  It  was  the  frightful 
results  of  pauperism,  impiety,  disease,  madness,  and 
crime,  which,  a  few  years  back,  led  to  the  enactment  of 
a  measure  for  abolishing  the  selling  of  drink  at  toll-bars, 
and  for  the  closing  of  dram-shops  and  public  houses  on 
the  Sabbath,  —  a  measure  which  has  effected,  according 
to  the  verdict  of  the  Royal  Commission,  a  vast  benefit 
for  the  country,  and,  in  conjunction  with  higher  duties 
upon  whiskey,  sensibly  arrested  the  growth  of  drunken 
ness,  pauperism,  and  crime.  Notwithstanding  the  occa 
sional  failure  of  town  councils  to  do  their  duty,  and  see 


115.  What  country  well  illustrates  the  entire  question  of  Temperance,  and 
why  ?  State  the  facts  concerning  Scotland.  What  measures  have  conferred 
great  benefit  upon  the  country  ?  What  was  the  effect  in  Edinburgh  ? 


158  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

the  law  enforced  by  their  police,  it  is  a  measure  which 
evinces  the  power  of  repression  in  a  very  striking  way. 
Before  it  passed,  the  prison  at  Edinburgh  was  about  to 
be  enlarged  at  great  expense  ;  after  its  enactment,  a  large 
number  of  cells  were  found  to  be  superfluous.  If  one 
day's  suppression  of  the  traffic  can  do  so  much,  what 
might  not  seven  days'  suppression  accomplish  ? 

116.  Ireland,  again,  has  a  peculiar  people  and  a 
strange  history.  Its  Celtic  and  impressionable  race  has 
at  times  been  sober,  and  at  others  dissipated  and  intem 
perate  to  an  excess,  but  during  the  lifetime  of  Father 
Mathew  rose  to  a  height  of  enthusiasm  and  sublime  self- 
abnegation  which  attracted  the  attention  and  sympathy 
of  the  whole  civilized  world.  At  one  time,  we  ourselves 
saw  the  secretary  of  this  Apostle  of  Temperance,  en 
rolling  members  amongst  the  sixth  million  of  his  disciples. 
One  great  error  was  committed,  however,  —  that  of  not 
preventing  the  future  inroad  of  the  traffic  by  erecting  a 
legal  bulwark  while  the  inspiration  was  upon  the  nation. 
Failing  this,  however,  the  temptations  returned,  the  en 
thusiasm  waned,  the  disciples  fell  away,  and  now  the 
monument  to  Father  Mathew,  in  the  city  of  Cork,  is  dese 
crated  by  a  perfect  circle  of  whiskey-dens,  where  the 
people  drink  to  their  own  degradation,  and  defile  the 
precincts  of  a  statue  which  should  be  sacred  to  purity  and 
temperance. 

All  the  bad  laws  and  influences  that  have  made  Ireland 
a  byword  and  a  reproach  to  England  have  been  aggra 
vated  by  drink.  Much  of  her  agrarian  outrages  could 


110.  What  is  remarkable  about  Ireland  ?    How  many  disciples  did  Father 
Mathew  enroll,  and  what  was  the  issue  of  the  reformation  ?    "Why  did  it 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  159 

not  have  existed  save  for  that.  Her  poverty  has  been 
transmuted  into  pauperism  and  famine  by  the  same  vile 
agent ;  her  industry  has  been  paralyzed,  her  morals  cor 
rupted.  A  leaf  or  two  from  her  history  will  at  once  de 
monstrate  the  curse  of  drinking  and  the  blessings  of 
temperance.  In  Ireland,  failure  of  crops  has  several 
times  proved  a  blessing,  by  leading  to  the  suppression 
of  distilling.  The  natural  loss  has  suspended  the  self- 
inflicted  curse;  the  gain  has  been  the  lessened  evil. 

For  example,  in  1757-8,  1760-1,  the  average  balance 
of  loss  between  corn  imported  and  corn  exported  was 
£78,282.  But  in  1759,  when,  owing  to  a  bad  harvest, 
the  distilleries  were  stopped,  there  was  a  balance  of 
profit  of  £4,584.  "  The  salutary  effects  of  which,"  says 
a  contemporary  observer,  "  were  the  restoring  new  vigor 
to  our  languishing  manufactures,  and  a  visible  reforma 
tion  in  the  morals  of  the  people."  * 

117.  In  1808-9,  1812-13,  again,  for  parts  of  those 
years  distillation  was  prohibited.  Of  oats,  the  grain 
mainly  used  by  the  distillers,  the  total  quantity  exported 
in  1808-11-12-15  is  given  from  the  averages  of  the 
Customs  returns, f  and  the  quantity  of  corn  spirits  pay 
ing  duty  is  added  :  — 

*  "  Earnest  Addresses  to  the  People,  against  Drinking  Spirituous  Liq 
uors,"  by  W.  Henry,  D.D.,  F.R.S.    Dublin,  1761. 
t  Vide  "  Parliamentary  Papers,"  vii.,  1823. 


decline  ?    What  great  omission  was  there  ?    What  was  the  result  of  closing 
the  distilleries  ?    Give  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Henry,  in  1761. 

117.  What  was  the  pecuniary  effect  of  partial  prohibition  of  the  distilleries 
in  1808-9,  1812-13  ?  What  was  the  moral  and  social  effect  of  stopping  the  dis. 
tilleries  in  those  years  ? 


160 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


Oats  in  barrels. 

Value. 

Spirits  in  Gallons. 

4,299,567 
3,033,831 

£4,080,806 
2,267,225 

9,0-17,091 
22,419,197 

Years  of  Dearth  and 
Prohibition. 

Years  of  Plenty  and 
Distillation. 

1,265,736 

£1,813,591 

Gain  in  four  years,  by  bad  harvests. 

Thus,  even  in  years  of  dearth,  the  prohibition  of  dis 
tilling  increased  the  oats  exported  nearly  two  millions  of 
pounds  in  value  ;  so  that,  making  allowance  for  the  parts 
of  years  during  which  the  distilleries  were  in  operation, 
the  capital  of  the  country  was  increased  by  half  a  mil 
lion  annually,  with  a  positive  gain  in  all  social  and  moral 
aspects  besides. 

Mr.  Sergeant  Lloyd,  before  the  Lords'  Committee  on 
the  state  of  Ireland  in  1825,  assigned  "  the  easy  access 
to  spirits  "  as  the  chief  predisposing  cause  of  the  peas 
ant  disturbances  in  the  county  of  Limerick. 

Under  the  prohibition  from  June  to  December,  1808, 
and  from  March  to  December,  1809,  whiskey  rose  from 
8s.  to  18s.  the  gallon,  and  at  once  sobriety  and  order 
supplanted  riot  and  debauchery.  In  1810,  when  the  pro 
hibition  ceased,  "  the  commitments  increased  nearly  four 
fold;  "  and  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  directed  public 
attention  to  its  cause.  So,  again,  when  the  distilleries 
were  stopped  from  February,  1812,  to  September,  1813, 
crime  also  stopped ;  and  when  they  revived  to  their 
work  of  destruction,  crime  revived  with  them. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


161 


Years. 

Prisoners. 

Years. 

Prisoners. 

1  3-4  year's  decrease. 

1811 
1811 

10,737 
10,249 

1812 
1813 

9,008 
8,985 

2,093 

20,086 

18,893 

Thus,  even  in  years  of  want,  a  partial  measure,  merely 
rendering  drink  dearer,  was  attended  with  a  reduction 
in  crime  of  one-sixth,  when  under  ordinary  circumstances 
it  would  have  increased  largely. 

118.  Another  illustration  is  derived  from  a  compari 
son  of  the  years  of  Father  Mathew's  great  success  with 
ordinary  years  of  intemperance.  Lord  Morpeth  declared 
in  the  commons  that  "  the  heaviest  offences,  such  as 
homicides,  outrages  upon  the  person,  assault  with  intent 
to  murder,  aggravated  assaults,  cutting  and  maiming," 
had  been  greatly  diminished. 

His  triumphs  were  from  the  year  1839  up  to  the  cul 
minating  era  of  1845,  when  the  movement  began  to  de 
cline,  in  part  owing  to  emigration,  in  part  to  the  natural 
subsidence  of  all  mere  enthusiasms,  but  in  1847,  8,  9,  to 
the  desolation  of  the  famine  and  the  exodus. 

Take  convictions  for  OFFENCES  AGAINST  THE  PERSON, 
as  those  most  likely  to  arise  from  excitement,  and  to  be 
least  liable  to  fluctuation  from  varying  social  influences 
of  an  ordinary  character,  and  of  course,  excluding  the 
famine  years,  as  subject  to  a  disturbing  influence. 


118.  What  was  the  effect  of  Fathew  Mathew's  reform  in  respect  to  crime 
in  Ireland  ?    In  what  proportion  was  crime  lessened  ?    State  the  facts  as  to 

11 


1G2 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   /EMPEBANCE. 


Six  ordinary  drinking  years,  during 
which,  exclusive   of    much    illicit 
whiskey,  70,913,546  gallons  of  Brit 
ish  spirits  paid  duty.* 

Six  less   intemperate  i/ears,   during 
which,  with  little  illicit  distillation, 
42,506,190   gallons    of  spirits   paid 
duty.f 

1834. 
1865. 

1836. 
1837. 
1838. 
1839. 

.5.902^1  Total  crime  of  the 
.5.832           first  class. 
.6,099  1               0-  ^n 
.2,631  f  2G>330 
.2,710 
.3,15Gj 

1840. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 

.  2,584  -I  Total  crime  of  the 
.2,324  j          first  class. 

.2,128    1                                   «.,    |-,Q 

.2,172  f  «MAl 

.2,093       A  reduction  of 
.  1,869  J          one-half. 

Take,  now,  two  quinquennial  periods,  and  see  what 
they  establish  in  regard  to  "  Convictions  at  Quarter  Ses 
sions  and  Assize,"  compared  with  the  years  remarkable 
for  diminished  consumption  of  whiskey. 


Spirits  charged  duty. 

Serious  crime. 

Executions. 

Ordinary  drinking  years,  1835- 

53  770  899 

64  520 

69 

Partially  temperate  1840-44... 

33,766,525 

47,027 

21 

Difference  

26  004  367 

17  493 

OQ 

The  prison  returns  for  Ireland,  compared  with  the  rev 
enue  returns,  show  that  a  legal  check  to  drinking  is  also 
a  check  to  crime. 

*  Taken  from  the  returns  of  the  Inland  Revenue  Office.  See  "  Report  on 
Public  Houses,"  1853,  p.  656.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period,  1,296  persons 
•were  confined  in  prison  for  illicit  distilling ;  in  1840  only  175,  and  in  1841 
only  171. 

f  In  several  counties  during  this  period,  there  happened  the  unprecedented 
circumstance  of  the  presentation  of  ivhite  gloves  to  the  Judges. 


six  contrasted  years.    As  to  the  increase  or  decrease  of  consumption.    As 
to  the  decrease  by  means  of  increased  duties. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


163 


Duty. 

Gals.  Spirits. 

Cases  of  Imprisonment. 

8  440  734 

73  733 

1855. 

Duty,  4s.,  6s.,  and  6s.  2d.  . 

6,228,856 

54,431 

2,211,878 

Decrease  19,302 

It  follows  from  these  figures  that  to  license  drink-sell 
ing  is  to  license  felonj^,  and  breed  crime.  So  true  is 
the  saying  of  the  jurist  Mittermaier,  that  "  all  his  inves 
tigations  led  him  to  the  same  sad  truth,  that  society 
prepares  the  crime." 

119.  England,  again,  with  her  mingled  races  of 
Frisian  and  Saxon,  Dane,  Norman,  Fleming,  and  Welsh, 
with  ber  gentry  habituated  to  wine,  her  city  populations 
to- gin,  her  shopkeepers  to  brandy,  her  southern  and 
western  peasantry  to  cider,  and  the  bulk  of  her  laborers 
to  ale  and  beer, — has  earned  for  her  citizens  the  un 
enviable  notoriety  of  being  "  drunken  Englishmen." 
Not  that  they  are  in  reality  greater  drinkers  than  the 
Dutch,  the  Germans,  the  Russians,  or  the  French,  but 
they  display  less  reticence  and  self-control  in  the  mani 
festation  of  their  propensities.  The  whole  history  of 
this  country  is  a  comment  upon  the  maxim,  that  as 
are  the  facilities  for  the  sale  of  strong  drink  so  is  the 
proportionate  drunkenness,  pauperism,  and  crime  of  the 
people.*  The  evil  of  drinking  is  all  pervasive  ;  it  finds 

*  See  Dr.  Lees'  "  Condensed  Argument  for  the  Legislative  Trohibition  of 


119.  "What  is  the  law  of  the  spread  of  intemperance  In  England?    How 


1G4  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

its  way  into  church  and  state,  aristocracy  and  democ 
racy  ;  the  seats  of  learning,  and  the  homes  of  igno 
rance  ;  and  at  the  present  time  (1867),  the  expenditure 
upon  liquor  for  Great  Britain  is  as  follows  :  — 

Home-made  spirits  charged  duty  (selling,  retail,  at 

20s.  per  gallon), £22,516,336 

Foreign  and  colonial  spirits  (at  27s.  per  gallon), .         7,978,885 

Malt  liquors  (2  bushels  malt  per  barrel  of  36  gal 
lons,  at  48s.),* 60,261,393 

Wines  (but  chiefly  the  stronger  ones),  at  15s. 

per  gallon, 9,995,937 

Cider  and  perry,  home-made  fruit  wines,  black 

beer,  etc., 607,449 


£101,260,000 
Or,  in  American  currency,  the  enormous  sum  of     $506,300,000 

120.  Of  this  sum,  Professor  Leoni  Levi  calculates  that 
the  working-classes  spend  about  one-third,  or,  in  round 
numbers,  the  vast  sum  of  £70,000,000,  which  equals  the 
entire  government  expenditure  of  the  country  for  im 
perial  purposes  !  It  is  a  self-imposed  taxation  very  lam 
entable  and  leads,  in  the  loss  of  time  and  health, — 

the  Liquor  Traffic,"  —  a  volume  of  160  pages,  founded  on  the  larger  Essay,  to 
which  the  Alliance  awarded  the  prize  of  100  guineas  ($500  currency.)  The 
whole  subject  is  exhaustively  treated. 

*  There  were  in  1866,  exactly  50,217,828  bushels  of  malt  charged  duty  for 
home  consumption,  which  would  produce,  with  water  adulteration,  above 
1,000,000,000  of  gallons  of  beer  for  30,000,000  of  people;  being  at  the  rate  of 
33  gallons  each  person,  exclusive  of  other  alcoholics. 


much  in  pounds  is  expended  on  Alcohol  in  Great  Britain  ?    How  much  in 
dollars  ? 

120.  What  is  the  share  of  working-men's  expenditure  ?    What  do<?s  this 
eelf-imposed  taxation  bring  with  it  ?    Who  are  the  channels  for  the  distri- 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


165 


the  true  capital  of  the  worker  —  in  deteriorated  labor,  in 
pauperism,  disease,  and  crime,  to  a  second  loss,  which 
cannot  be  estimated  at  much  less  than  the  first.  The 
channels  and  agents  for  this  wasteful  expenditure  are  an 
immoral  and  demoralizing  body  of  men,  called  publi 
cans,  who  unblushingly  avow  that  their  politics  are 
those  of  the  trade,  first  and  last,  and  who  are  every 
where,  as  a  body,  found  ranged  against  such  ameliorat 
ing  agencies  as  schools,  free  libraries,  and  temperance 
societies,  but  in  favor  of  races  and  betting,  prize-fights  and 
cock-fights,  —  whose  literature,  from  "  Bell's  Life  "  down 
to  "The  Licensed  Victualler's  Guardian,"  is  that  of  ex 
tremely  "  low  life."  These  men  are  licensed  by  the  law 
to  carry  on  their  debasing  and  deadly  trade  !  They  are 
always  on  the  increase,  and  bring  after  them  a  propor 
tionate  increase  of  criminals  and  police.  These  crime- 
breeders  have,  for  three  periods,  numbered  as  follows  for 
England  and  Wales  alone  :  — 


1860-1. 

1862-3. 

1866-7. 

Publicans  

67  145 

66  695 

70  457 

Beer-sellers  only... 
Wine-dealers  

43,986 
1  467 

47,212 
2  657 

53,971 
4  448 

Total  Ketailers  
Wholesale  dealers.  . 

112,598 
3,055 

116,564 
3,533 

128,876 
6,341 

bution  of  this  drink  ?    What  number  of  traffickers  in  England  ?    In  Scot 
land  ?  In  Ireland  ?   What  has  been  the  result  of  this  increase  in  the  traders  I 


1G6  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

In  Scotland,  in  1866,  there  were  98  brewers  only,  and 
12,472  licensed  victuallers. 

In  Ireland,  in  1866,  there  were  91  brewers  only,  and 
15,541  licensed  victuallers. 

Scotland  has,  besides,  132  distillers  ;  Ireland,  60. 

As  the  temptations  gradually  increase,  drinking  as 
gradually  and  certainly  extends,  notwithstanding  the 
unparalleled  influences  of  a  physical,  social,  and  re 
ligious  nature  which,  during  the  past  half  century,  have 
been  counteracting  the  tendency  of  the  system.  In  1857, 
each  person  in  England  averaged  a  consumption  of 
nearly  two  gallons  of  pure  alcohol,  but  in  1866,  of  2£. 
In  1857,  each  person  in  Scotland  consumed  on  the  aver 
age  1|,  but  in  1866  nearly  1£  gallon.  In  1857,  each 
person  in  Ireland  had  an  average  of  three-fourths  of  a 
gallon,  but  in  1866  above  four-fifths. 

121.  The  third  line  is  very  instructive  in  the  above 
table :  that  which  shows  how  the  wine  licenses,  chiefly 
granted  to  confectioners,  grocers,  and  eating-house  keep 
ers,  had  quadrupled  in  a  few  years.*  The  Hon.  W.  E. 
Gladstone  perversely  adopted  the  theory  that  the  love 
of  heavy-wet  and  potent  drains  was  to  be  eradicated  by 

*  An  action  brought  into  the  Court  of  Common  Tleas,  in  November,  18(58, 
for  the  recovery  of  a  wine  bill,  elicited  the  fact,  that  at  a  banquet  held  in  the 
preceding  August,  at  the  New  Market.  King's  Cross,  London,  over  which 
the  Common  Sergeant  of  the  city  presided,  521  bottles  of  wine  were  drunk 
by  the  180  guests,  — i.  e.,  THREE  BOTTLES  EACH  I  The  writer  has  seen  the 
wine  bills  of  aristocratic  clubs,  which  show  that  the  proportion  of  drinking 
in  the  city  is  not  greater  than  that  in  the  West  end. 


How  much  Alcohol  is  consumed,  on  the  average,  in  England,  in  Scotland, 
and  in  Ireland  ? 
121.  What  was  the  result  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  scheme  of  wine  licenses  for 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  167 

favoring  a  taste  for  "  light  wines  ;  "  and  so,  in  spite  of 
temperance  warnings,  he  obsthrately  persisted  in  his 
plan.  The  results  have  been  disastrous  in  the  extreme. 
Young  people,  servants,  and  married  women,  who  could 
not  be  seen  in  a  dram-shop,  have  been  tempted  to  drink 
the  new  and  fashionable  liquor,  falsely  branded  as  "  in 
nocent."  It  has  done  its  work,  and  created,  in  ten  thou 
sand  instances,  an  appetite  for  stronger  stimulants.  In 
1868,  there  was  a  great  scandal  —  one  of  many — crea 
ted  by  the  fall  of  a  distinguished  and  aristocratic  clergy 
man  ;  whereupon  the  newspapers,  which  support  the 
causes,  give  a  homily  upon  the  effects  !  Notably  so,  the 
London  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  —  a  bitter  opponent  of  absti 
nence  and  prohibition,  as  well  as  a  constant  perverter  of 
American  affairs.  We  cite  its  exact  words  :  — 

"  Drink  may  doubtless  sap  a  man's  brains,  weaken  his  powers, 
and  even  convert,  as  if  by  a  harlequin's  wand,  a  gentleman 
into  a  blackguard.  The  tale  does  but  once  more  point  the 
moral  that  be  who  begins  to  yield  can  never  know  whither  the 
terrible  habit  may  carry  him.  So  stern  and  so  steady  is  the 
march  of  its  evil  influence,  that  insensibly  a  man  dwindles 
down  into  the  shadow  of  himself,  and  can  never  win  back  the 
strength  and  the  courage  he  has  lost.  '  No  one  drinks  nowa 
days  ! '  says  Mrs.  Grundy.  Well,  people  no  longer  get  drunk 
in  the  middle  of  the  day,  or  reel  into  a  theatre  in  the  state 
which  was  common  during  the  old  days  of  the  legitimate 
drama ;  but  the  doctors  tell  us,  and  the  doctors  ought  to  know, 
that  within  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  afresh  outbreak  of 
the  drinking  mania,  not  amongst  the  frequenters  of  the  public 
house,  but  in  good  society  —  in  the  home.  We  cannot  flatter 
ourselves  that  the  report  is  exaggerated.  Such  propensities 


confectioners?    Give  the  words  of  the  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  describing  the 
consequences.    Give  an  example  of  middle-class  "  temperance." 


168 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE. 


commonly  seize  upon  society  by  fits  and  starts;  and  just  now 
the  unhappy  suspicion  again  prevails,  that  ladies  themselves 
occasionally  take  rather  more  than  is  good  for  them,  under  the 
pretence  of  *  supporting  the  system.'  It  seems  but  too  true 
that  a  dark  shadow  is  cast  on  many  homes  by  the  fatal  habit  of 
secret  intemperance,  and  that,  in  not  a  few  cases,  the  victims  of 
the  degrading  vice  have  the  excuse  neither  of  ignorance  nor 
cff  poverty," 

But  what  excuse,  we  ask,  have  the  legislators,  who 
create  the  temptations  ? 

122.  The  moral  work  of  England  is  set  at  nought, 
and  its  legitimate  fruits  blighted  by  the  pest  of  the 
traffic.  The  seminaries  of  Satan  far  outnumber  the 
schools  of  Christ.  Take,  for  example,  the  Sunday- 
school  system,  and  follow  the  pupils  into  life. 


No.  of 
Prisoners 
in  jail 
at 
Leedt. 

282 

No. 
•who  hare 
attended 
Sunday 
school. 

No. 
Who  have 
been 
8.  School 
Teachers. 

No. 
under 
18  years 
of 
age. 

No. 
under  18 
•who  have 
attended 
8.  School. 

No. 
who  have 
not 
attended 
8.  School. 

230 

23 

33 

28 

52 

Aug.  14th, 
1864. 

Or  81  1-2  per 
cent. 

Or  10  per 
cent. 

Or  11  per 
cent. 

Or  84  of  col 
umn  4. 

Or  only  18  1-2 
per  cent. 

The  Rev.  J.  Kingsmill,  in  his  official  report  on  the 
Pentonville  Penitentiary,  1849,  says:  " Of  1,000  con 
victs  757  had  been  scholars  in  the  different  day  schools, 


122.  What  does  the  traffic  do  in  relation  to  Sunday-school  scholars  and 
teachers  ?    Give  the  figures  as  to  prisoners  in  Leeds  jail,  and  the  evidence 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  169 

high  and  low,  in  the  country ;  and  nearly  half  of  that 
number,  on  an  average,  five  years. "  (p.  14.) 

While  we  write,  there  are  in  England,  one  million  of 
paupers  receiving  relief  from  the  public  funds,  and 
another  million  on  the  verge  of  pauperism,  living,  or 
starving  on  charity.  About  every  eighth  person  is  either 
beggar,  or  pauper,  or  criminal,  or  publican  who  creates 
him,  or  policeman  who  catches  him,  or  judge  who  tries 
and  condemns  him. 

Well-regulated  minds  are  at  the  foundation  of  a  na 
tion's  order,  economy,  and  peace,  but  coextensive  with 
the  increase  of  the  traffic  has  been  that  of  idiotcy  and 
insanity  amongst  the  people.  Upwards  of  30,000  per 
sons  are  now  in  the  various  lunatic  asylums  of  Eng 
land  and  Scotland,  operating  as  a  dead  weight  to  civili 
zation,  and  indicating  a  still  larger  number  of  persons, 
who,  owing  to  moderate  perversion,  are  either  vicious, 
extravagant,  or  unreliable,  the  centres  of  domestic  un- 
happiness,  and  the  sources  of  social  clanger.  Lippich 
found,  that  of  forty  children,  born  of  drunken  parents, 
only  six  were  in  possession  of  vigorous  health,  while 
two-thirds  of  that  offspring  were  nipped  wholly  in  the 
bud.  When  the  muscular  and  vascular  system  is  so  pal 
pably  shrivelled,  what  must  be  the  injury  to  the  delicate 
and  susceptible  nervous  system  and  the  brain? 

During  the  last  ten  years,  a  million  and  a  half  of 
criminals  have  been  in  the  prisons,  and  let  loose  again. 
"  We  are  now,"  says  the  "  London  Times,*5. "  in  the  un 
wonted  case  of  having  among  us  many  thousands,  taint- 


of  Mr.  Kingsmill.    What  is  the  amount  of  pauperism  in  England  ?    Cite  the 
testimony  of  the  "  Times. » 


170  TEXT-COOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

ed,  stigmatized,  corrupted  by  crime,  its  slovenly  habits 
and  horrid  associations.  We  are  surrounded  by  men, 
forming  no  inconsiderable  per  cent,  of  the  population, 
asking  for  work  or  for  charity,  —  conspiring  against  our 
property,  and  if  need  be,  our  lives  ;  spreading  the  con 
tagion  and  art  of  crime,  waking  while  we  sleep ;  com 
bining,  while  we  act  each  only  for  self;  and  forming  an 
imperium  in  imperio,  that  may  lead  in  time  to  the  most 
disastrous  consequences."  There  is,  indeed,  about  the 
drinking  system,  a  prodigality  of  mischief,  —  a  seduc 
tion,  virulence,  and  fermenting  fecundity  in  the  repro 
duction  of  vice  and  crime,  which  are  without  precedent 
or  parallel. 

123.  The  lives  of  the  people,  under  a  just  and  wise 
government,  are  the  wealth  and  strength  of  the  nation. 
It  has  been  ascertained,  with  much  approximate  accura 
cy,  from  statistics  of  various  kinds,  that  there  are  about 
30,000  deaths  annually  in  England,  directly  traceable  to 
drinking,  and  the  diseases  and  accidents  it  induces  ;  and 
probably  30,000  more  that  have  had  more  or  less  to  do, 
indirectly,  with  the  use  of  strong  drink.  It  is  certainly 
the  greatest  of  all  the  causes  of  mortalit\T  in  the  arm}T, 
the  heads  of  which  persist  in  distributing  the  grog  or 
beer  allowance,  —  a  long-since  demonstrated  evil.* 

*  In  "\Vales,  the  temperance  and  religious  elements  have  prospered,  and 
the  drunkeries  are  greatly  less,  in  proportion  to  the  inhabitants,  than  in  other 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  consequence  is,  that  crime,  especially  serious 
crime,  is  far  rarer.  In  his  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  at  Denbigh,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Bovil  said :  — 

"I  have  travelled  thus  far  through  Forth  Wales,  and  have  been  able  to 


l',!3.  Row  many  lives  are  prematurely  sacrificed  to  drinking  in  England? 
How  many  die  indirectly  1    What  is  the  effect  of  the  grog-rations  in  the 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  171 

The  reports  of  the  English  Registrar-General  of 
births,  marriages,  and  deaths,  shall  supply  one  final 
example  of  the  deadly  but  untalked-of  influence  of  al 
cohol  in  aggravating  mortality,  as  compared  with  other 
agencies  which  excite  universal  notice,  and  compel  to 
immediate  legislation.  What  are  the  facts  regarding 
accidental  and  wilful  poisoning,  which  have  induced  the 
law-makers  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  poisons  by  chemists, 
except  under  the  most  stringent  and  special  conditions? 
The  signature  of  the  buyer  must  be  taken,  and  the  poi 
son  must  be  distinctly  labelled. 


1853.    1859.  18GO. 

Cases  of  accidental  poisoning,        282        279  240     > 

Suicide  by  poison,*         .        .        119        112  156      \       ' 

Murder  and  manslaughter  f  in  three  years,     .  .        .     1,059 

Total, 2,247 


congratulate  all  the  grand  juries  I  have  met.  At  one  place  there  was  not 
a  bill  found  for  trial,  and  no  cause  on  the  list.  In  other  places  there  were 
but  few  persons  for  trial,  whose  cases  required  little  consideration  at  the 
hands  of  either  jury  or  judge."  (1SGS.) 

In  Caernarvonshire  there  is  one  public  house  to  188  people,  and  only  one 
criminal  to  2,452  inhabitants ;  in  Anglesey,  one  public  house  to  210  persons, 
and  only  one  criminal  to  3,000  inhabilauts,  and  loth  counties  are  low  in 
education.  But  in  Glamorgan  (South  Wales),  though  education  is  above  the 
average,  yet,  with  one  drunkcry  to  120 persons, there  is  three  and  four  times 
the  proportion  of  crime  —  or  one  criminal  to  U09  of  the  population. 

*  The  papers  show  that  suicide  is  often  caused  by  drink-perversion,  leading 
to  a  loss  of  self-control ;  and  that  poisons  are  both  given  and  taken  in  mis 
take,  owing  to  the  obfuscated  condition  produced  by  drinking. 

j  Most  of  these  cases,  again,  are  the  direct  results  of  drinking. 


Army?    How  many  cases  of  suicide  by  poison  and  accidental  poisoning  are 
recorded  in  three  years  ?    How  many  murders  and  manslaughters  ?    How 


172  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

These  are  sad,  even  terrible  facts,  to  be  found  in  the 
centre  of  Christian  civilization ;  but  they  are  in  great 
part,  only  concomitants  or  consequences  of  another  de 
moralizing  agenc}7,  —  strong  drink,  —  of  which  its  last 
fruits  are  worse  for  the  victims  and  for  mankind.  Yet 
the  figures  next  to  be  cited,  from  the  returns  of  the 
same  years,  by  no  means  tell  the  whole  story,  because 
false  charity  towards  the  dead,  and  an  unwillingness  to 
hurt  the  feelings  of  relatives,  induce  the  medical  attend 
ant  to  put  down  proximate  cause  of  death  (congestion, 
or  other  disease)  rather  than  the  real  one  of  drink.* 

1858.         1S59.         I860. 

Deaths  from  drink,        .        .        288        845        318    =       951 
Deaths  from  delirium  tremens,     424        545        457    ==    1,426 

Total,     .  .        .       712        890        775    —    2,377 

Thus  the  whole  number  of  cases  of  poisoning  by  ar 
senic,  oxalic  acid,  and  other  drugs,  was  less  than  one- 
half  of  those  arising  from  alcohol !  —  and  the  deaths, 
from  this  last  form  of  poisoning,  exceeded  by  130  cases 
the  deaths  from  accidental  and  self-poisoning,  and  from 
murder  and  manslaughter  all  put  together.  Yet  the  whole 
machinery  of  law  and  police  is  set  at  work  to  lessen  the 
one  set  of  effects,  while  the  state  lends  its  sanction, 


*  This  is  the  same  as  though,  to  disguise  the  fact  of  a  pistol-shot,  or  sword- 
thrust,  the  result  of  a  duel,  the  attendant  surgeon  had  certified  that  "  the 
deceased  died  of  a  lesion  and  rupture  of  several  arteries." 


many  deaths  arc  there  from  drink  and  delirium  tremens,  in  excess  over 
those  from  poisoning  1  and  how  many  in  excess  over  poisoning,  murder,  and 
manslaughter  combined  ?  What  contrast  docs  Korth  Wales  present? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  173 

and  society  its   silence,  to  uphold  the  causes  of  the 
other ! 

124.  It  has  been  objected,  however,  that  though  in 
temperance  doubtless  is  the  cause  of  many  premature 
deaths,  there  are  some  diseases  which  the  free  use  of 
alcohol  prevents,  or  holds  in  abeyance,  —  consumption, 
to  wit.  Were  this  so,  it  would  be  no  argument  for 
drinking ;  because  it  is  better  that  men  should  pass 
away  in  the  course  of  a  natural  disorder,  than  with  both 
impaired  intellect  and  morals  by  a  suicidal  course  of  in 
temperance.  Some  3^ears  ago,  Dr.  Swett,  of  New  York, 
stated  as  a  fact,  that  of  7-i  cases  of  death  from  aggravated 
intemperance,  in  persons  found  in  the  dead-house,  there 
was  not  a  single  case  of  tuberculous  lungs.  It  may 
have  been  so ;  but  it  proves  nothing  against  the  great 
mass  of  contrary  facts.  Lippich,  for  instance,  in  his  re 
searches  at  Laibach,  shows  that  11  percent,  of  drunkards 
died  of  consumption.  Mr.  Neison,  the  London  actuary, 
found  that  of  357  drunkards,  just  40  —  that  is,  11  per 
cent,  again  —  died  of  phthisis.  When  we  recollect, 
then,  that  two-fifths  of  the  cases  of  consumption  perish  be 
fore  their  twenty-fifth  year,  when  drunkards  are  beginning 
to  train,  and  that  11  per  cent,  of  the  population  is  about 
the  proportion  in  which  persons  of  all  ages  die  of  consump 
tion  in  England,  —  we  have  a  clear  answer  to  the  fallacy ; 
since,  taking  equal  ages,  while  only  7  per  cent,  of  adults 
perish  of  consumption,  11  per  cent,  of  drinkers  die  of 


124.  Does  the  free  use  of  Alcohol  arrest  or  prevent  any  other  disease  ? 
Has  this  been  asserted,  and  in  reference  to  what  disease  ?  Have  not  drunk 
ards  a  much  greater  than  ordinary  proportion  of  consumption  ?  How  is 
this  proved  ?  Give  the  facts  stated  by  Lippich,  Neison,  and  Huydecoper. 


174  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

that  disease.     Mr.  Huydccoper,  in  his  earnest  address 
on  the  evils  of  strong  drink,  says  :  — 

"  I  have,  for  a  continuance  of  seven  years,  frequented,  as 
one  of  the  town  clergy,  the  great  military  hospital  at  the 
Hague ;  and  could  I  lay  before  you  the  number  of  those  I  saw 
expire  thert  of  pectoral  complaints  and  consumption,  and  from 
whose  dying  lips  I  have  heard  the  confession,  that  they  saw 
in  their  sufferings  the  fruits  of  their  excessive  drinking,  you 
would  be  astonished  that  so  many,  even  in  our  father-land, 
should  thus  perish  in  the  bloom  of  life."  * 

125.  Mr.  Neison,  by  a  series  of  approximate  calcula 
tions,  reached  the  fact,  that  in  England  1  in  every  74 
persons  is  a  confirmed  drunkard,  and  that,  out  of  all  the 
deaths  between  the  three  decades  from  30  to  GO,  — which 
expresses  the  matured  value  of  the  man,  —  the  propor 
tions  from  drinking,  were,  1  in  21,  1  in  16,  and  1  in  22. 
Professor  Huss,  of  Sweden,  says  that  Eskilston,  con 
taining  4,000  souls,  was  so  addicted  to  drink,  that  of  the 
males  1  in  30,  of  the  females  1  in  40,  annually  perished. 
He  contrasts  this  town  with  the  district  of  Jemtland, 
where  the  people  were  very  moderate  (though  of  the 
same  race,  and  living  in  the  same  climate),  where  the 
annual  mortality  is  but  1  in  78  of  the  males,  1  in  82  of 
the  females.  In  the  army,  everywhere,  the  mortality  is 
still  more  frightful.  Dr.  Forrey,  in  his  observations  on 
the  records  of  the  medical  department  of  the  United 
States  army,  ascribed  to  this  vice  more  than  half  the 

*  "  Een  Woord  .  .  van  Sterken  Drank."    Amsterdam,  1853,  p.  174. 


125.  What  are  the  proportions  of  deaths  amongst  drunkards  in  England  ? 
What  in  Eskilstun  ?    How  does  Jemtland  contrast  with  this  ?    What  was  the 


TEXT-BOOlv    OF   TEMPERANCE.  175 

deaths.  Mr.  Huydecoper  says,  that,  among  the  Dutch,  it 
is  reckoned  of  their  soldiers  sent  on  service  to  the  East, 
from  70  to  75  per  100  die  from  drink. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  rhetoric  to  affirm  that,  of  all  the 
curses  that  ever  visited  this  earth,  intemperance  is  the 
most  deadly.  Fever  and  plague  may  visit  us,  but  they 
do  not  tarry ;  famine  may  come,  but  it  is  followed  by 
plenty;  while  drink,  worse  than  pestilence,  sits  and 
broods  amongst  us,  engendering  a  horrible  offspring 
of  sensualit}7  and  sin.  Intemperance  is  an  invited  visit 
or,  the  provision  for  whose  banquet  is  made  under  sanc 
tion  of  church  and  state,  —  whose  license  is  pleaded  by 
the  victims,  under  a  stolid  delusion,  from  Holy  Writ,  and 
made  legal  by  the  crooked  and  corrupting  policy  of 
legislators ! 

Russia  has  been  cursed  for  ages  with  intemperance, 
and,  since  the  abolition  of  serfdom,  drunkenness  has  be 
come  at  once  more  common  and  more  dangerous.  The 
government  had  long  made  a  point  of  raising  a  large 
revenue  from  corn  brandy,  not  so  much  by  heavy  duties 
as  by  small  licenses  for  distilling.  The  consequences 
were  deplored  by  the  late  czar,  Alexander,  but  his  con 
templated  reforms  were  overruled.  While  we  write, 
however  (December,  1868),  good  news  of  wise  efforts 
reach  us.  The  taverns  are  as  numerous  in  St.  Peters- 
burgh  as  anywhere,  and  are  nicknamed  "  National 
Banks,"  for  the  double  reason,  that  they  yield  a  revenue 
to  the  nation,  and  absorb  the  money  of  their  customers. 

To  put  an  end  to  the  gigantic  evils  of  the  system,  the 


former  army  mortality  in  the  United  States  ?    What  amongst  the  Dutch 
troops  in  India  ? 


176  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

government  decrees  :  1.  That  the  price  of  corn  brandy 
shall  be  trebled,  by  increase  of  duty.  2.  That  no  tavern 
shall  exist  in  any  main  thoroughfare,  to  tempt  the  peo 
ple  passing.  3.  That  every  tavern  shall  be  treated  as 
an  inn,  and  pay  the  customary  license  fee,  —  about  $350. 
4.  That  no  tavern  shall  be  open  within  eighty  yards  of 
any  of  the  government  offices,  which  swarm  in  the  metrop 
olis  ;  so  that  this  provision  is  a  good  stroke  of  prohibi 
tion.  It  is  one  virtue  of  despotic,  as  of  democratic 
governments,  that  they  are  thus  able  to  treat  "  vested 
interests  "  with  contempt. 


VIII. 

iwtr 


126.  The  United  States  of  North  America  have  the 
unquestioned  honor  of  originating  the  first  systematic 
and  organized  plan  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance  ; 
at  least  amongst  the  "Western  nations  and  in  modern 
times.  Here,  as  in  the  mother  county,  it  had  for  ages 
been  considered,  that  legal  license  and  supervision  of 
the  traffic  were  all  that  could  be  done  to  repress  intem 
perance,  beyond  the  appeals  of  the  moralist  and  the 
preacher.  The  people  of  the  States,  however,  untram 
melled  by  the  conservative  and  conventional  habits  of 


12G.  "Where  did  the  first  systematic  endeavor  to  suppress  intemperance 
originate  ?  What  conditions  made  America  more  favorable  to  its  success 
than  the  old  country  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  177 

the  old  country,  were  not  disposed  to  accept  the  great 
curse  as  a  thing  absolutely  necessary  and  inevitable  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  as  a  practical  people,  engaged  in  hewing 
out  a  new  form  of  society  and  civilization,  set  themselves 
to  ascertain  the  reason  of  things  being  as  they  were, 
and  then  straightway  began  the  work  of  reform.  There 
were,  of  course,  great  difficulties  in  the  way,  —  of  inter 
est,  prejudice,  appetite,  and  fashion,  —  but  these  were 
neither  so  inveterate  nor  so  vast  as  in  Great  Britain,  where 
a  new  truth  has  to  fight  its  way  over  the  social  debris  of 
a  thousand  years.  Besides,  what  were  difficulties  to  the 
genius  of  a  people  who  had  just  emerged,  not  only  safely, 
but  triumphantly,  from  a  long  and  terrible  conflict  for 
their  political  independence,  and  who  had  become  a  na 
tion  of  sturdy  Republicans  in  spite  of  English  king  and 
oligarchy?  Hence  the  notion  of  a  needed  reform,  of  a 
work  to  be  done,  having  once  been  fairly  injected  into  the 
ininds  of  the  people,  they  pursued,  and  are  pursuing  it, 
with  unfaltering  purpose,  and  steady,  invincible  zeal. 
The  occasions,  rise,  and  progress  of  the  remarkable 
movement  we  have  now  succinctly  to  record.  The  en 
terprise  has  had  its  five  stages,  and  is  destined  to  its 
sixth,  ere  it  reach  the  culminating  point  which  shall 
usher  in  the  crowning  epoch  of  civilization.* 

I. 

127.  There  was  the  period  of  Chaos,  when  darkness 
brooded  over  the  elements  of  social  life  in  the  States. 

*  Namely :  1.  A  confused  perception  of  the  EVIL.  2.  Attempts  at  regu 
lating  the  machinery  of  mischief.  3.  Era  of  vague  Temperance.  4.  Thai 
of  Total  Abstinence.  5.  The  No-license  agitation.  G.  The  epoch  of  Prohib 
itive  State  Law. 

12 


178  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

The  freedom  which  the  people  exercised,  at  a  period  of 
great  political  and  warlike  excitement ;  the  abundauce 
of  their  means  ;  the  cheapness  of  liquor,  with  an  almost 
open  traffic,  and  other  facilities  for  its  purchase,  —  had 
produced  their  inevitable  fruits.  The  country  was  over 
run  with  intemperance,  the  cities  were  overflowed  with 
disorder,  the  poorhouses  filled  with  paupers,  the  jails 
crowded  with  criminals,  —  army,  navy,  and  populace 
alike  cursed  with  rum.  Yet  from  the  earliest  period  of 
the  history  of  the  States  the  sale  of  liquor  had  been 
looked  upon  with  suspicion,  and  the  worst  forms  of  it 
absolutely  prohibited. 

In  the  town  records  of  East  Hampton,  Long  Island, 
for  1651,  is  an  order  of  a  town  meeting,  "  That  no  man 
shall  sell  any  liquor  but  sucJi  as  are  deputed  thereto  by 
the  town;  and  such  men  shall  not  let  youths,  and  such 
as  are  under  other  men's  management,  remain  drinking 
at  unseasonable  hours  ;  and  such  persons  shall  not  have 
above  half  a  pint  at  a  time  among  four  men."  In  1655, 
the  authorities  "  ordered,  for  the  prevention  of  drunken 
ness  among  the  Indians,  by  selling  Strong  Water,  First, 
That  no  man  shall  carry  any  to  them  to  sell,  nor  send 
them  any,  nor  employ  any  to  sell  for  them  ;  nor  sell  them 
any  liquor  in  the  town  for  the  present  drinking,  above 
two  drams  at  one  time ;  and  to  sell  to  no  Indians  but 
such  as  are  sent  by  the  sachem,  and  shall  bring  a  written 
ticket  from  him,  tvhich  shall  be  given  him  by  the  town, 
and  he  shall  not  have  above  a  quart  at  a  time." 


127.  What  are  the  six  stages  of  the  temperance  enterprise  ?  How  did  the 
old  law  treat  the  traffic?  Give  an  example  of  prohibition.  When  did  the 
business  of  distilling  commence  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  170 

Bancroft,  under  the  date  of  1676,  lias  a  summary  of  a 
new  constitution  for  Virginia,  in  place  of  the  tyrannical 
one  of  the  aristocratic-proprietary.  We  quote  the  last 
sentence  and  the  appended  note  from  Hening. 

"  The  sale  of  wines  and  ardent  spirits  was  absolutely 
prohibited  (if  not  in  Jamestown,  yet  otherwise)  through 
out  the  whole  country" 

Hening,  ii.  361 :  "  Ordinances  to  sett  and  utter  man's 
meate,  horse  meate,  beer,  and  cyder,  but  no  other  strong 
drink  whatsoever." 

The  business  of  making  and  distilling  spirit  commenced 
in  Boston  in  the  year  1700,  when  West-India  molas 
ses  was  converted  into  New  England  rum.  In  1794, 
the  distillation  of  whiskey  from  rye  commenced  in  West 
ern  Pennsylvania.  In  1815,  the  number  of  distilleries 
in  the  States  had  increased  to  40,000,  destroying  10,000,- 
000  bushels  of  breadstuff's,  to  make  30,000,000  gallons 
of  poison.  Ten  million  gallons  of  rum  were  also  manu 
factured  annually  at  that  time. 

128.  Shortly  before  the  establishment  of  independence, 
the  evil  of  distillation  attracted  the  notice  of  the  patriots, 
at  one  of  their  first  Congresses.  On  the  27th  February, 
1774,  the  following  resolution  appears  to  have  passed 
unanimously :  — 

"  Resolved,  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  several  legislatures 
in  the  United  States  immediately  to  pass  laws  the  most  effect 
ual  for  putting  an  immediate  stop  to  the  pernicious  practice  of 
distilling  grain,  by  which  the  most  extensive  evils  are  likely  to 
be  derived,  if  not  quickly  prevented." 

Dr.  B.  Franklin,  Dr.  Benj.  Rush,  and  other  signers  of 
128.  What  part  of  the  system  first  attracted  the  attention  of  the  early 


180  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

the  Declaration  of  independence,  were  members  of  this 
congress. 

In  March,  1788,  an  act  passed  the  Legislature  of  the 
Empire  State,  entitled  "  An  act  to  lay  a  dut3r  on  strong 
liquors,  and  for  the  better  regulation  of  inns  and  taverns." 
It  provided  that  the  Commissioners  of  Excise  should  not 
grant  permits  to  any  person  to  sell  strong  drink  and 
spirituous  liquors  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  a  tavern, 
unless  it  should  appear  to  them  that  such  inn  or  tavern 
was  necessary  for  the  accommodation  of  travellers,  and 
that  the  person  applying  for  the  permit  was  of  good  char 
acter;  and  that  no  person  should  sell  strong  drink,  or 
spirituous  liquors,  to  be  dmnJc  in  his  house,  without  first 
entering  into  a  recognizance  not  to  keep  a  disorderly  or 
gambling  house,  —  and  that  if  any  person  shall  be  con 
victed  of  any  offence  against  this  act,  it  should  be  lawful 
for  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  to  suppress  his  per 
mit.*  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  old  laws  acknowl 
edge  that  the  sale  of  liquor,  without  a  special  permit  from 
the  State,  is  a  social  offence. 

129.  About  the  year  1790,  there  was  published  in 
Philadelphia,  a  thin  volume  of  "  Sermons  on  Intemper 
ance,"  apparently  written  by  a  physician,  — we  believe, 
Dr.  Rush,  —  which  seems  to  have  attracted  attention,  and 

*  A  similar  act  was  passed  April  7th,  1801,  which  prohibited  the  sale  of 
spirituous  liquors  by  retail,  or  to  be  drank  in  the  house  of  the  seller,  and  re 
strained  and  limited  the  power  of  the  Commissioners  of  Excise  in  granting 
licenses ;  and  contained  a  further  provision,  that  all  offences  against  any  of 
its  provisions  shall  be  deemed  misdemeanors,  punishable  by  fine  and  im 
prisonment.  This  act  was  embodied  in  the  New  York  Revised  Laws  of  1813. 


Congresses  ?    What  prominent  men  took  part  in  the  discussion  ?    On  what 
basis  was  the  traffic  placed? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  181 

eventually  to  have  led  to  a  remarkable  and  most  influen 
tial  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  medical  profession  of 
that  city.  The  fact  we  refer  to  is  explained  in  the  fol 
lowing  document :  — 

"DELETERIOUS  EFFECTS   OF  DISTILLED  SPIRITS   ON   THE  HUMAN 
SYSTEM. 

"  Communicated  to  the  Senate,  December  29,  1790. 

"  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  the  memorial  of  THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  respectfully  showeth  :  — 

"  That  they  have  seen  with  great  pleasure  the  operation  of 
the  National  Government,  which  has  established  order  in  our 
country. 

"They  rejoice  to  find,  among  the  powers  which  belong  to 
this  government,  that  of  restraining  by  certain  duties  the  con 
sumption  of  distilled  spirits  in  our  country. 

"It  belongs  more  peculiarly  to  men  of  other  professions  to 
enumerate  the  pernicious  effects  of  these  liquors  upon  morals 
and  manners.  Your  memorialists  will  only  remark,  that  a 
great  portion  of  the  most  obstinate,  painful,  and  mortal  dis 
orders  which  affect  the  human  body  are  produced  by  distilled 
spirits ;  and  they  are  not  only  destructive  to  health  and  life, 
but  they  impair  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  thereby  tend 
equally  to  dishonor  our  character  as  a  nation,  and  degrade  our 
species  as  intelligent  beings. 

"Your  memorialists  have  no  doubt  that  the  rumor  of  a 
plague,  or  any  other  pestilential  disorder  which  might  sweep 
away  thousands  of  their  fellow-citizens,  would  produce  the 
most  vigorous  and  effective  measures  in  our  government  to 
prevent  or  subdue  it. 

"Your  memorialists  can  see  no  just  cause  why  the  more 
certain  and  extensive  ravages  of  distilled  spirits  upon  life 


129.  For  what  is  the  year  1790  remarkable  ?    Give  the  purport  of  the  me 
morial  of  the  College  of  Physicians. 


182  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

should  iiot  be  guarded  against,  with  corresponding  vigilance 
and  exertion,  by  the  present  rulers  of  the  United  States. 

"Your  memorialists  beg  leave  to  add  further,  that  the  habit 
ual  use  of  distilled  spirits,  in  any  case  whatever,  is  ivholly  unne 
cessary  •  that  they  neither  fortify  the  body  against  the  morbid 
effects  of  heat  or  cold,  nor  render  labor  more  easy  or  more 
productive ;  and  that  there  are  many  articles  of  diet  and  drink, 
which  are  not  only  safe  and  perfectly  salutary,  but  preferable 
to  distilled  spirits  for  the  above-mentioned  purposes. 

"Your  memorialists  have  beheld  with  regret  the  feeble  influ 
ence  of  reason  and  religion  in  restraining  the  evils  which  they 
have  enumerated.  They  centre  their  hopes,  therefore,  of  an 
effectual  remedy  for  them  in  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the 
legislature  of  the  United  States ;  and  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
of  humanity,  to  which  their  profession  is  closely  allied,  they 
thus  publicly  entreat  the  Congress,  by  their  obligations  to  pro 
tect  the  lives  of  their  constituents,  and  by  their  regard  to  the 
character  of  our  nation  and  to  the  rank  of  our  species  in  the 
scale  of  beings,  to  impose  such  heavy  duties  upon  all  distilled 
spirits  as  shall  be  effectual  to  restrain  their  intemperate  use  in 
our  country. 

"  Signed,  by  order  of  the  College, 

"  JOHN  REDMAN,  President. 
11  Attest,  SAMUEL  POWELL  GRIFFITHS,  Secretary. 
"  Philadelphia,  Dec.  27th,  1790." 

130.  At  last  the  enemy  was  fairly  unmasked,  and  as 
sailed  in  the  stronghold  of  popular  prejudice,  by  that 
very  agency  most  likely  to  be  successful.  The  ice  once 
broken,  Dr.  Hush  cast  aside  all  reticence,  and  in  1794 
issued  his  "  Medical  Inquiries"  into  the  effects  of  ardent 
spirits,  and  announced  the  doctrine  of  abstinence,  which 
ultimately  became  the  basis  of  a  radical  reformation. 


130.  What  celebrated  physician  published  a  book  on  the  subject,  mid  what 
principle  did  lie  announce  ?    What  ideas  were  coming  into  view  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  183 

After  combating  the  errors  of  popular  opinion,  and  enu 
merating  some  of  the  chief  disorders  engendered  by  the 
use  (not  abuse)  of  ardent  spirits,  he  says  :  "  It  would 
take  a  volume  to  describe  how  much  other  disorders,  nat 
ural  to  the  human  body,  are  increased  and  complicated 
by  them.  Every  species  of  inflammatory  and  putrid 
fever  is  rendered  more  frequent  and  more  dangerous,  by 
the  use  of  spirituous  liquor."  He  thus  struck  boldy  at 
the  double  superstition,  —  the  virtue  of  alcohol  as  diet, 
and  its  prophylactic  power  as  medicine.  These  papers 
excited  inquiry,  gradually  attracted  the  attention  of  re 
flecting  men  in  his  own  profession,  and,  finally,  of  the 
reading  public.  In  1805,  he  reproduced  these  views  in 
a  pamphlet,  which  procured  a  wide  circulation.  The  for 
mation  of  the  first  temperance  society  in  modern  times 
was  the  consequence.  It  was  instituted  in  Moreau,  Sara 
toga  County,  on  the  13th  of  April,  1808,  under  the  ap 
pellation  of  "  The  Union  Temperate  Society  of  Moreau 
and  Northumberland."  Dr.  B.  J.  Clark  was  the  origi 
nator  of  this  idea  of  social  union  for  suppressing  the 
tyranny  of  social  custom.  The  effort,  however,  remained 
local. 

Philanthropists,  senators,  and  the  better  part  of  the 
people,  now  began  to  see  the  danger  which  threatened 
the  country  and  the  State,  and  asked  themselves  the 
question,  If  this  agent  of  disease,  this  physical,  moral, 
and  social  pestilence,  goes  on  unchecked,  what  will  be 
the  end?  At  last,  the  essential  evil  of  the  drink  was  per 
ceived,  and  the  "  throne  of  iniquity  "  —  the  legalized  ma 
chinery  for  disseminating  the  evil— rose  dimly  before 
the  sight.  Before,  they  had  blamed  the  dram-s/iop 
rather  than  the  dram  — now,  the  more  fundamental  truth 


184  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

was  being  enforced,  that  it  was  the  dram  that  character 
ized  the  shop  and  gave  to  it  its  peculiarity  of  seduc 
tion  and  sequence ;  while  the  correlated  truth  also 
emerged,  that  the  shop  was  the  centre  and  heart  of  temp 
tation,  —  at  once  the  hand  that  set  the  powder  and  fired 
the  train.* 

II. 

131.  Out  of  these  workings  of  light  the  second  epoch 
had  come,  —  that  of  systematic  regulation.  New  so 
cial  truths  rose  into  view.  It  was  seen  that  the  li 
censed  drink  house  is  a  licensed  snare,  and  that  "  the 
more  grog-shops  the  more  drunkenness,  pauperism, 
and  crime,''  expressed  a  connection  as  certain  as  any 
other  social  law.  In  1818-19,  the  authorities  of  New 
York  largely  reduced  the  number  of  retail  grog-shops. 
In  1820,  the  report  of  the  Society  for  the  prevention 
of  Pauperism  in  New  York  cites  the  testimony  of  the 

*  Hope,  in  the  shape  of  prohibition,  has  at  last  come  to  the  drunkard. 
The  following  was  advertised  in  the  papers  of  the  day.  We  may  hear  in  it 
the  heart-voices  of  thousands  of  victims,  crying  to  society,  as  all  meu  cry  to 
God :  "  Deliver  us  from  temptation ! " 

"  WHKREAS,  the  subscriber,  through  the  pernicious  habit  of  drinking,  has 
greatly  hurt  himself  in  purse  and  person,  and  rendered  himself  odious  to  all 
his  acquaintance;  and  finding  there  is  no  possibility  of  breaking  off  from  the 
said  practice  but  through  the  impossibility  to  find  the  liquor,  he  therefore  begs 
and  prays  that  no  person  tvill  sell  him  for  money,  or  on  trust,  any  sort  of 
spirituous  liquors,  as  he  will  not  in  future  pay  for  it,  but  will  prosecute  any 
one  for  an  action  of  damage  against  the  temporal  and  eternal  interests  of 
the  public's  humble,  serious,  and  sober  servant, 

"JAMES  CHALMERS. 
"Witness,  WILLIAM  ANDREWS. 
"NASSAU,  June  28th,  1795." 


131.  What  formula  did  the  theory  of  regulation  imply  ?  In  what  city  was 
it  acted  on,  and  with  what  results  ?  Give  the  testimony  of  the  Mayor  of 
New  York ;  and  state  the  proof  of  a  failure.  Note,  —  Xamc  a  curious  adver 
tisement. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  185 

mayor:  "The  effect  is  very  obvious;  drunken  people 
are  much  seldomer  seen  in  our  streets.  It  has  had  a 
very  important  influence  on  the  morals  of  the  commu 
nity  and  lessened  the  number  of  crimes.  Crimes  have 
numerically  decreased,  and  comparatively  have  very 
greatly  diminished.  This  great  benefit  to  the  commu 
nity  is  chiefly  to  be  imputed  to  THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  so 
MANY  OP  THESE  POISON-SHOPS,  where  a  man  might  buy 
rum  enough  to  make  himself  beastly  drunk  for  six 
cents."  But  such  a  mode  of  action  depended  upon  the 
whim,  the  moral  tone,  and  circumstances  varying  in 
various  districts,  and  was  itself  so  partial  that  it  could 
not  permanently  stem  the  demoralizing  stream  which 
swelled  up  and  swept  on,  carrying  upon  its  fiery  bosom 
the  wrecks  of  home,  health,  and  social  prosperity.  We 
find  it  officially  stated,  "that  three-fourths  of  the  as 
saults  and  batteries  committed  in  the  city  and  county 
of  New  York,  and  brought  before  the  Court  of  Sessions, 
proceed  from  the  degrading  use  of  ardent  spirits."  In 
fine,  the  issue  proclaimed  that,  nationally  regarded,  reg 
ulation  was  a  nullity  and  a  failure. 

132.  New  York  was  no  exceptional  city  at  that  time  ; 
it  was  a  type  of  the  whole  country.  The  curse  had  eaten 
into  every  department  of  life ;  the  church,  the  college, 
the  camp,  the  change,  the  marine,  the  civil  service,  were 
alike  infected. 

President  Jefferson  said,  a  little  before  his  death  :  — 

"  "Were  I  to  commence  my  administration  again,  with  the 
knowledge  which,  from  experience,  I  have  acquired,  the  first 

132.  What  was  the  state  of  the  country  as  respects  drinking?    What  did 


186  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

question  I  would  ask  with  regard  to  every  public  candidate  for 
public  office  should  be,  Is  he  addicted  to  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits?" 

Mr.  E.  C.  Delavan  says  :  — 

"I  know  of  two  bishops  who  fell,  through  wine,  both 
brothers.  I  know  of  one  drinking  a  whole  goblet  of  sacramen 
tal-wine  as  his  part,  and  then  going  from  the  communion  table 
and  disgracing  himself  with  women;  for  which  he  was  tried 
and  unseated." 

Prof.  Leonard  Woods,  D.D.,  Andovcr,  said,  in  1836  : — 

"  I  remember  that  at  a  particular  period,  before  the  temper 
ance  reformation  commenced,  I  was  able  to  count  up  nearly 
forty  ministers,  and  none  of  them  at  a  great  distance,  who  were 
either  drunkards,  or  so  far  addicted  to  drinking  that  their  rep 
utation  and  usefulness  were  greatly  impaired,  if  not  utterly 
ruined.  I  could  mention  an  ordination  that  took  place  about 
twenty  years  ago,  at  which  I  myself  was  ashamed  and  grieved 
to  see  two  aged  ministers  literally  drunk ;  and  a  third  indecently 
excited."  *  "  With  the  light  now  cast  on  the  subject  it  seems 
to  me  incredible,  that  a  minister  of  the  gospel  can  be  in  the 
habit  of  using  any  intoxicating  liquor,  without  injuring  his 
own  piety  and  diminishing  the  success  of  his  labors.  It  tends 
to  inflame  all  that  is  depraved  and  earthly,  and  to  extinguish 
all  that  is  spiritual  and  holy.  It  is  poison  to  the  soul  as  really 
as  to  the  body." 

133.  The  politico-economical  relations  of  the  question 
just  before  the  birth  of  the  present  movement,  in  1826, 
may  be  gathered  from  some  calculations  made  and  pub 
lished,  in  1827,  by  Judge  Cranch  :  — 

*  Ninth  Report  of  American  Temperance  Society,  p.  47. 


President  Jefferson  confess  ?    What  was  the  condition  of  the  church  ?    Give 
the  evidence  of  Mr.  Delavan  and  Prof.  Woods. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  187 

UNITED  STATES.  —  "  Annual  consumption  of  spirits  72,000,000 
gallons ;  cost  to  consumers  $48,000,000.  The  number  of  drunk 
ards  375,000 ;  at  least  100  clays  of  their  work  annually  lost  to  the 
State,  which  may  be  estimated  at  $5,000,000.  37,500  drunkards 
annually  die,  their  lives  abridged  by  ten  years  on  the  average. 
Loss  to  the  State  (reckoning  the  profit  of  their  labor,  had  they 
been  sober  at  $50  a  year)  $13,000,000.  The  expenses  of  criminal 
justice  amount  to  $7,000,000  a  year.  Drunkenness  produces 
three-fourths  of  the  criminals,  hence  $<3,000,000  more  to  the 
debit  of  intemperance.  Pursuing  these  calculations  on  the 
same  principle  as  regards  the  poor,  who  become  so  through 
drunkenness,  the  loss  of  labor  of  the  criminals  shut  up  in 
prison,  etc.,  a  total  of  £100,000,000  sterling  is  arrived  at  as 
the  total  loss  suffered  by  the  country  at  that  time  in  conse 
quence  of  the  use  of  strong  drinks." 

The  population  of  the  United  States  did  not  then  ex 
ceed  12,000,000.  Wine,  cider,  and  beer  not  included  in 
these  estimates. 

134.  It  may  be  well  to  compare  these  facts  with  the 
state  of  things  now,  after  40  years  of  temperance 
agitation,  and  14  years  of  prohibition  in  several  States 
Some  districts  may  possibly  drink  as  much  as  then,  but 
others  certainly  consume  far  less. 

THE  STATES.  — In  1860,  there  were  88,002,717  gallons 
of  spirits  distilled,  and  5,115,140  barrels  of  fermented 
liquors  brewed  [excluding  home-made  cider],  worth 
$739,020,579  at  retail  prices  ;  while  the  value  of  all  the 
flour,  cotton  goods,  boots,  shoes,  woollen  goods,  clothing, 


133.  "Who  made  some  calculations,  in  1827,  as  to  the  cost  and  consequences 
of  making  and  using  ardent  spirits,  in  the  United  States  ?    What  is  the  total 
cost  per  head  ? 

134.  Describe  the  present  condition  of  the  States.    How  many  gallons  of 
spirits  distilled  in  1803  ?    How  many  barrels  of  liquors  brewed,  and  what  the 


188  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

and  books,  newspapers,  and  other  printing,  produced  in 
the  United  States,  was  $610,000,000.  The  time  lost  by 
drinking,  cost  of  crime,  pauperism,  litigation,  etc., 
would  make  the  total  expense  at  least  $1,000,000,000. 
The  civil  and  diplomatic  expenses  for  1863  were  $11,- 
066,138.  Thus  the  people  tax  themselves  $728,000,000 
more  for  liquor  than  the  cost  of  their  government  in 
ordinary  times. 

There  are  180,000  licensed  drink-sellers,  which,  at 
twenty  customers  each,  make  3,600,000  tipplers.  Hence, 
as  one  out  of  30  every  year  finishes  his  training,  and 
passes  into  the  ranks  of  the  confirmed  sots,  120,000  drunk 
ards  are  annually  manufactured,  who  would  form  a 
column,  in  regular  marching  order,  36  miles  long. 

At  a  low  estimate,  there  are  565,640  persons  employed 
in  distilleries,  and  wholesale  and  retail  liquor  stores,  and 
only  146,176  ministers  and  school-teachers. 

RAILROADS  AND  LIQUOR.  —  Mr.  Welles,  in  his  report, 
gives  us  a  table, "  showing  the  aggregate  sales  "  of  liquors, 
at  wholesale  and  retail,  "  in  the  several  States  and  ter 
ritories  of  the  Union,  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30th,  1867,  as  deduced  from  the  receipts  of  internal  rev 
enue."  The  value  of  the  retail  liquor  sales  —  that  is, 
the  first  cost  to  the  consumers  —  reaches,  in  a  single 
year,  the  enormous  sum  of  one  billion  four  hundred  and 
eighty-three  million  four  hundred  and  ninety-one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars  ($1,483,491,- 
865),  that  is,  forty-three  dollars  for  every  man,  woman, 


total  cost,  ?  How  many  tipplers  annually  pass  into  sots  ?  What  wouH  they 
all  number  ?  What  was  the  total  cost  of  liquors  iu  1807  ?  and  what  per 
headl 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  189 

and  child  in  the  country.  It  is  very  nearly  one-eightJi 
of  the  value  of  the  whole  year's  merchandise  of  the 
country  (including  liquors),  by  wholesale  and  retail 
dealers,  auctioneers,  and  commercial  brokers,  —  namely, 
$11,870,337,207.  The  sum  of  the  wholesale  liquor  sales 
is  something  less  than  one-half  of  the  retail  sales 
($600,278,950),  which  indicates  the  large  profits  of  this 
traffic.  The  total  present  value  of  railroads  is  $1,654,- 
050,779,  which  only  exceeds  the  annual  cost  of  the 
liquor  drank,  by  less  than  the  worth  of  the  railroads  in 
the  single  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  the  city  of  Philadelphia  there  are  7,600  rum-shops, 
385  churches,  and  245  school-houses. 

600,000  kegs  of  lager-beer  were  brewed  in  Milwaukee 
in  1867. 

135.  STATISTICS  OP  NEW  YORK  CITY,  1868.  —  The 
whole  number  of  places  where  liquors  are  publicly  re 
tailed  in  this  city  is  5,203.  Each  rum-hole  receives  a 
daily  average  of  134  visits,  making  an  aggregate  of  697,- 
202  per  day,  5,183,212  per  week,  or  218,224,226  visits 
in  one  year !  Each  visit  averages  at  least  15  min 
utes.  This  gives  us  5,455,605  days  of  10  hours  each,  or 
1,848  years,  the  whole  value  and  life  of  a  man  from  the 
birth  of  the  Saviour  to  now  !  At  present  wages,  each 
one,  if  sober  and  industrious,  would  earn  $1  per  day,  or 
$5,455,605  in  one  year.  But  this  is  not  all  the  lost  time. 
The  time  of  at  least  three  persons  is  occupied  by  each 
grog-shop  to  do  its  work.  This  gives  us  15,609  persons, 
—  enough  to  make  a  large  city.  At  $1  per  day  for  each, 


135.  Give  the  statistics  of  New  York  city,  in  1867,  as  regards  the  visits  to 
the  rum-holes.    Express  the  loss  of  time  by  a  supposed  length  of  one  life. 


190  TEXT -BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

we  have  (excluding  Sunday),  $4,870,008,  or  an  aggre 
gate  of  $10,325,613  of  wasted  time  by  seller  and  drinker, 
—  a  sum  sufficient  to  carry  on  all  the  Sunday-school, 
Missionary,  Tract,  and  Bible  societies  in  the  land.  But 
this  is  a  mere  fraction  of  the  cost  of  rum.  Each  rum- 
hole  receives  in  money  a  daily  average  of  $141,53,  mak 
ing  an  aggregate  of  $763,280  per  week,  or  $38,286,590, 
per  annum,  —  to  which  add  the  value  of  lost  time,  and 
we  have  $48,612,192. 

The  total  amount  received  for  licenses,  in  1866,  was  $1,- 
225,449.26;  in  1867,  $1,305,002.27  ;  and  in  1868,  $1,447,- 
156.63,  making  a  total  in  31  months,  of  $4,047,608,16. 

The  total  number  of  arrests  by  the  police,  for  the  year 
ending  October,  1868,  was  98,861,  of  which  50,844 
were  for  intoxication  and  disorderly  conduct.* 

40,000  kegs  of  lager-beer  are  daily  consumed  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

NEW  YORK  STATE.  —  The  carefully  prepared  statistics 
of  the  New  York  Prison  Association  show  that  there 
were,  in  1863,  21,242  licensed  liquor  shops,  and  about 
6,750  churches. 

136.  At  the  period  referred  to  in  §130  the  social 
condition  was  gloomy  enough,  but  still  the  friends  of 
morality  and  order  worked  on.  Trumpet  notes  were 
heard  over  wide  districts  of  the  countiy,  indicating  the 

*  Since  the  passage  of  the  Metropolitan  Excise  Law,  which  prohibits  the 
sale  of  liquor  on  Sunday,  the  Sunday  arrests  for  drunkenness  have  been  re 
duced  nearly  one-half,  and  about  3,000  of  the  worst  rum-holes  closed  alto 
gether.  This  is  the  result  of  prohibition,  not  of  license. 


The  total  loss  of  time  and  money.    How  many  licensed  liquor  dens  are  there 
In  New  York  State  ? 
l.'JG.  What  were  the  indications  of  the  coming  enterprise  ?    What  accident 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  191 

existence  of  a  hope  and  a  purpose,  which  only  required 
to  be  known  in  order  to  become  mighty  by  association. 
In  1813,  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression 
of  Intemperance  was  formed,  to  discountenance  "  the 
too  free  use  of  ardent  spirit  and  its  kindred  vices,  pro- 
faneness  and  gaming,  and  to  encourage  temperance  and 
general  morality."  Dr.  II.  D.  Mussc3r,  Dr.  Torrey,  and 
Mr.  Jeremiah  Evarts  were  concerned  in  this  movement, 
and  the  last  named,  as  editor,  published  six  articles  on  the 
subject  in  the  Boston  "Panoplist"  of  that  year.  In 
1822,  the  death  of  a  teamster,  crushed  to  death  while 
under  the  influence  of  liquor  beneath  the  wheels  of  his 
wagon,  and  the  burning  to  death  of  another  man,  oc 
casioned  the  delivery  of  two  discourses  (we  believe,  by 
Dr.  Justin  Edwards),  which  attracted  attention  by  the 
remedy  proposed,  —  "  abstinence  from  the  use  of  intoxicat 
ing  liquors." 

This  ultimately  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Amer 
ican  Temperance  Society,  of  whom  Dr.  Edwards  was  the 
first  secretary,  and  who  wrote  those  early  and  most  able 
reports,  the  reprints  of  which  did  so  much  in  exciting 
attention  to  the  subject  in  Europe,  especially  in  Britain. 
In  1825,  Dr.  Edwards  wrote  "The  Well-Conducted 
Farm,"  —  (No.  17G  of  the  Tract  Society's  Series),— 
exhibiting  the  results,  to  the  workmen,  of  an  experi 
ment  made  upon  an  extensive  farm  in  Worcester  County, 
Mass.,  viz. :  — 

"  They  had  a  better  appetite  for  food  and  were  more  nourished 


led  to  the  preaching  of  two  sermons  in  1822  ?  To  what  did  this  lead  ?  What 
celebrated  tract  was  published  in  1825  ?  Who  next  preached  six  sermons  ? 
What  medical  man  appealed  to  his  countrymen  ? 


192  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

by  it  than  before ;  had  greater  vigor  of  body  and  mind ;  did 
more  labor  with  less  fatigue ;  got  rid  of  disorders  they  had 
before;  saved  more  money;  were  better  tempered  and  hap 
pier;  and  so  more  useful  to  themselves  and  others." 

In  the  following  year,  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.D., 
preached  his  famous  "  Six  Sermons  on  Intemperance,"  at 
Litchfield  ;  but  they  had  merely  a  local  influence,  until 
republished  afterwards  by  the  American  and  the  English 
societies,  when  they  effected  much  good.  John  Ware, 
M.D.,  in  an  address  at  Boston,  before  the  Massachu 
setts  society  named  above,  gave  this  testimony  :  — 

"  No  impression  can  be  more  unfounded,  no  opinion  more 
fatally  false,  than  that  which  attributes  to  spirituous  liquors 
any  power  of  promoting  bodily  strength.  Experience  has  in 
all  quarters  abundantly  proved  the  contrary.  None  labor  so 
constantly,  so  cheerfully,  and  with  so  little  exhaustion,  as 
those  who  entirely  abstain ;  none  endure  so  well  hardships  and 
exposure,  the  inclemency  of  weather,  and  the  vicissitudes  of 
seasons." 

III. 

137.  Thus,  all  these  various  influences  rapidly  gath 
ered  to  a  head,  and  the  era  of  temperance  organization 
was  inaugurated,  —  an  organization  destined  to  confer 
untold  blessings  upon  mankind.  On  February  13,  1826, 
the  American  Temperance  Society  was  formed  at  Bos 
ton,  and,  in  March,  the  Executive  Committee,  con 
sisting  of  Dr.  Leonard  Woods,  Dr.  Justin  Edwards, 
and  Messrs.  Tappan,  Odiorne,  and  Wilder,  issued  their 


137.  "When,  where,  and  by  whom,  was  the  American  Temperance  Society 
farmed  ?    What  were  the  results  ?    What  official  action  was  taken  in  the 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  193 

manifesto.  Distilled  liquors  were  prohibited.  In  the  lat 
ter  part  of  the  same  year,  Professor  Palfrey's  "  Ser 
mons,"  Dr.  Beecher's  "  Discourses,"  and  Dr.  Mussey's 
"Address  before  the  Medical  Convention  of  New  Hamp 
shire,"  successively  appeared.  Total  abstinence  from 
ardent  spirit  was  the  doctrine  enforced,  as  interest  and 
as  duty,  on  the  ground  of  health,  social  and  individual 
safety,  and  religious  feeling.  The  people  accepted  the 
teaching  as  a  new  gospel  to  them,  —  its  necessity  was 
felt,  —  and  it  speedily  became  regarded  by  the  churches 
as  immoral  to  drink  spirits. 

The  triumphs  of  moral  appeal  were  very  great.  The 
enthusiasm  passed  on  far  and  wide.  Thousands  of 
drunkards  were  reclaimed,  and  the  facts  concerning 
drink  as  a  source  of  pauperism  and  crime,  attracting 
the  attention  of  several  of  the  presidents,  and  of  lead 
ing  statesmen,  led  to  official  action  in  the  army  and 
navy.  One-seventh  of  the  army  (6,000  in  all  at  that 
time)  deserted  through  drink,  and  one-fourth  were  in 
capable  of  regular  duty.  The  soldiers,  in  many  parts, 
petitioned  to  have  the  grog  stopped,  which  proposal 
General  Jones  and  other  officers  supported,  and  on 
Nov.  2,  1832,  General  Lewis  Cass  issued  the  order  from 
the  War  Department  substituting  sugar  and  coffee  for 
grog.  "  Hereafter  no  ardent  spirits  will  be  issued  to 
troops  of  the  United  States.  No  ardent  spirits  shall 
be  introduced  into  any  fort,  camp,  or  garrison,  nor  sold 
by  any  sutler  to  the  troops.  Nor  will  any  permit  be 


army  and  navy  ?  What  was  the  testimony  of  the  churches  ?  How  many 
societies  were  formed,  and  drunkards  reclaimed,  by  the  year  1833?  What 
amusing  prediction  as  to  the  abstinence  doctrine  was  falsified  ? 

13 


194  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

granted  for  the  purchase  of  ardent  spirits."  A  thousand 
ships  went  out  of  American  ports  without  any  grog, 
and  this  eventually  led  to  its  banishment  from  the 
navy.  At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  at  this  time,  attended  by  above  500  ministers, 
it  was  declared  that  "  among  the  means  graciously 
blessed  and  owned  during  this  year  of  jubilee,  many 
of  your  reports  specially  commemorate  the  influence  of 
temperance  societies.  In  various  places  the  reforma 
tion  has  been  a  harbinger,  preparing  the  way  of  the 
Lord."  In  the  next  year  a  congressional  temperance 
society  was  formed.  Above  7,000  temperance  societies 
were  now  in  active  operation,  comprehending  a  million 
and  a  quarter  of  members,  and  including  only  10,000 
reclaimed  drunkards.  An  able  literary  organ,  "  The 
Christian  Examiner,"  published  at  Boston,  thus  records 
the  results :  — 

"  The  greatest  enterprise  and  the  most  hopeful  omen  of  the 
age,  perhaps,  is  the  temperance  reforn.  Here  is  a  moral  mir 
acle,  —a  nation,  a  world,  fast  sinking  into  the  gulf  of  sensual 
perdition.  How  stupendous,  almost  hopeless,  must  have  seemed 
to  the  first  reformers,  who  stretched  out  their  hands  to  stay  that 
downward  course,  the  work  they  had  undertaken!  But  they 
entered  upon  it;  they  went  forward;  and  what  is  the  result? 
Within  five  years  the  entire  conscience  of  the  world,  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  world  at  least,  is  penetrated;  a  new  sentiment,  a 
new  fear,  a  new  set  of  moral  maxims  is  wrought  into  the  heart 
of  nations ;  millions  have  joined  in  this  work,  —for  we  do  not 
reckon  the  pledged  men  alone ;  new  laws  have  been  framed, 
new  legal  restraints  devised,  new  domestic  usages  introduced; 
and  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  plague  is  stayed.  What  most 
strikes  our  attention,  and  fills  us  with  astonishment,  is  this,  — 
that  such  an  impression  in  behalf  of  morality  could  have  been 
made  upon  whole  countries,  in  so  brief  a  space  of  time.  It  is 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  195 

altogether  more  surprising  than  the  effect  produced  by  the 
preaching  of  Peter  the  Hermit.  The  crusades  to  the  Holy 
Land,  which  he  recommended,  were  entirely  in  accordance  with 
the  warlike,  chivalric,  and  superstitious  spirit  of  the  age.  But 
here  our  reformers  have  made  head  against  the  settled  habits, 
and  often,  too,  the  incensed  passions  of  the  people.  If  this 
could  be  done,  anything  can  be  done.  The  success  of  the  tem 
perance  cause  is  a  signal  and  glorious  pledge  for  anything 
reasonable  and  just  that  good  men  may  desire  to  undertake."  * 

138.  The  unwonted  intelligence  from  America  natu 
rally  excited  great  interest  amongst  the  philanthropists 

*  Respect  for  the  memory  of  a  distinguished  temperance  reformer,  induces 
us  to  record  the  fact,  that,  after  Dr.  Cheyne,  of  Dublin,  the  next  most  dis 
tinct  exposition  of  the  physiological  doctrine  that  alcohol  is  poison,  whether 
in  fermented  or  distilled  liquors,  appeared  in  May,  1830.  We  give  the  title 
of  the  work  to  which  we  refer :  — 

"Dispepsy  Forestalled  and  Resisted;  or,  Lectures  on  Diet,  Regimen,  and 
Employment;  delivered  to  the  students  of  Amherst  College,  spring  term, 
1S30.  By  Edward  Hitchcock,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History 
in  that  institution.  Amherst :  printed  and  published  by  J.  &  S.  C.  Adams, 
1830." 

In  the  following  year  a  second  and  enlarged  edition  was  published,  with  a 
"Reply  to  the  Reviewers,"  especially  to  "The  Christian  Examiner,"  for 
November,  1830,  that  had  ably  reviewed  the  book,  but  which,  nevertheless, 
fell  into  many  of  the  blunders  that  still  linger  in  our  literature.  A  passage 
in  these  lectures  shows  how  unfit  even  good  men  are  to  judge  of  the  effect 
of  proclaiming  truth ;  how  they  violate  duty  when  they  timidly  hold  it  back 
out  of  fear  that  it  will  not  be  acceptable  I  "  I  should  consider  it  extremely 
injudicious,  and  even  Quixotic,  for  any  temperance  society  to  require  total 
abstinence  from  the  milder  stimulants."  Yet,  this  very  doctrine,  two  years 
later,  spread  like  wildfire  throughout  Great  Britain. 

When  the  "Examiner"  selected  the  professor  as  the  representative  of 
"  over-zealous  partisans,"  our  author  thus  mildly  disclaimed  for  the  socie 
ties  (as,  indeed  he  had  done  iu  his  original  lectures)  all  responsibility  on 
their  part. 

"  At  the  time  they  were  published,  I  knew  not  that  one  individual  in  the 
United  States  would  coincide  with  me  in  my  views,  because  I  had  not  con 
sulted  an  individual." 

Yet  these  views  were  not  singular ;  they  were,  in  fact,  truths  which  had 
ripened  in  many  minds  in  many  distant  places,  —  views  so  ripe  that  they 
could  not  fail  to  drop  down  upon  the  social  ground  prepared  for  them,  and 
be  eagerly  accepted. 


196  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

of  Europe.  Between  1828  and  1830,  —  chiefly  through 
the  earnest  efforts  of  the  Rev.  G.  Carr,  of  New  Ross, 
the  Rev.  John  Edgar,  D.D.,  of  Belfast,  Mr.  John  Dtm- 
lop,  of  Greenock,  Mr.  "W.  Collins,  of  Glasgow,  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Beaumont,  surgeon,  of  Bradford,  —  this  new 
agency  of  reform  was  introduced  into  various  parts  of 
Ireland,  England,  and  Scotland.  A  certain  amount 
of  good  was  done,  especially  amongst  grog-drinkers  of 
the  middle  class,  but  few  drunkards  were  reclaimed. 
It  was  soon  perceived,  that,  owing  to  the  fact  of  English 
drunkenness  arising  mainly  from  beer,  the  American 
pledge  was  deficient  and  nationally  inapplicable,  besides 
involving,  in  the  permission  of  the  use  of  wine,  an  in 
consistency  which  destroyed  the  moral  power  of  its 
advocates.  "The  rich  can  drink  their  strong  wines," 
said  the  people  ;  "  why  cannot  the  poor  man  enjoy  his 
gin?"  It  was  felt  that  the  pledge  must  be  extended  to 
every  agency  of  enslavement,  and  include  abstinence 
alike  from  spirits,  wine,  malt-liquor,  and  cider.  This 
social  necessity  led  to  inquiry  into  the  chemistry  of  the 
question,  which  revealed  the  fact  that  "alcohol "was 
the  real  agent  of  mischief  in  all  these  drinks,  however 
disguised  under  various  mixtures,  adulterations,  and 
names.* 


*  In  1828,  the  late  Dr.  Clieyne,  physician  to  the  forces  in  Ireland,  in  a 
"Letter  on  Wine  and  Spirits,"  announced  the  injurious  character  of  all 
fermented  liquors.  The  liev.  W.  Urwick,  D.D.,  in  his  "Remarks  on  the 
Evils,  Occasions,  and  Cure  of  Intemperance,"  laid  down  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicants  as  the  only  effectual  cure  for  national  intemperance. 


138.  Who  introduced  Temperance  Societies  into  Great  Britain?  What 
followed,  and  why  did  they  fail  at  a  certain  point?  Under  ivhat  circum 
stances  was  the  pledge  enlarged?  Who  originated  the  name  teetutul,  in 


TEXT- BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.        197 

At  a  meeting  in  Preston,  Lancashire,  early  in  1832, 
a  reformed  character  and  working-man,  named  "  Dicky 
Turner,"  using  an  emphatic  provincialism  for  "  entire," 
said  that  he  would  go  in  for  teetotal,  for  *'  moderation  " 
was  "  botheration."  Mr.  Joseph  Livese}^,  adopting  this 
"  teetotalism"  as  the  name  of  the  new  society  they  had 
formed  on  the  principle  of  abstinence  from  all  intoxicat 
ing  liquors,  afterwards  carried  this  novel  doctrine  to  the 
chief  towns  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  and  later  on  to 
Birmingham  and  London.  Thousands  of  earnest  spirits 
took  it  up,  and  the  old  temperance  societies,  founded 
upon  the  American  pledge,  fast  went  out  of  existence. 
Drunkards  were  reclaimed  by  thousands,  and  by  the 
agency  of  a  band  of  lecturers,  such  as  James  Teare, 
Edward  Grubb,  Gray  Mason,  and  Thomas  Whitaker, 
the  new  doctrine  spread  from  Cornwall  to  Caithness, 
and  became  very  popular  amongst  the  working-classes. 
In  Ireland  it  engaged  the  notice  of  Mr.  Martin,  a 
Quaker,  of  Cork,  who  ultimately  induced  Father  Mathew 
to  become  an  abstainer,  and  commence  that  reformation 
which  from  1842  to  1847  drew  the  attention  of  all  Europe 
to  the  subject,  and  effected  such  a  wonderful  change  in 
the  habits  of  the  Irish  people. 

Both  these  tracts  \vere  published  by  the  Dublin  Temperance  Society,  and 
influenced  the  movement  in  England  and  Scotland.  [In  1832,  Dr.  Lees,  then 
a  young  man,  joined  the  movement,  and,  in  1835,  signed  the  abstinence 
pledge,  and  immediately  brought  the  question,  by  oral  discussions,  and 
through  the  press,  before  the  notice  of  the  nation,  in  its  physiological  and 
biblical  aspects.] 


application  to  abstinence  ?   Who  were  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  new 
principle  in  England  ? 


198  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

IV. 

139.  "We  return  to  the  United  States.  Five  more 
years  passed  away,  and  behold  another  change  !  Where 
were  thousands  of  their  reformed  drunkards?  Where 
their  promising  young  men?  Drawn  partly  into  the 
vortex  of  the  old  traffic,  and  partly  into  a  new  form  of 
social  drinking.  Both  in  private  circles  and  in  public 
houses,  artificial  mixtures  and  wines,  but  especially 
cider  and  lager  beer,  were  supplanting  rum,  but  doing 
rum's  work.  The  temperance  army,  then,  must  move 
up  higher,  —  must  outflank  the  enemy,  —  must  establish 
all  round  him  the  lines  of  investment.  In  very  truth, 
this  was  attempted  ;  nay,  the  friends  fancied  they  had  done 
it,  in  hoisting  a  broader  banner,  and  in  altering  the 
watchword  of  the  old  one. 

The  teetotal  pledge  was  adopted  from  England,  and  the 
system  made  solid  and  consistent.  Total  abstinence  from 
ALL  that  intoxicates  became  the  motto,  and  once  more,  with 
renewed  hope,  the  temperance  army  commenced  a  fresh 
campaign,  as  they  imagined,  with  all  the  appliances  and 
the  munitions  of  war  that  were  needed.  It  was  a  mis 
take  ;  they  fought  the  enemy,  indeed,  but  they  fought 
him  with  unequal  weapons,  for  they  did  not  even  assault 
his  legal  entrenchments,  and  so,  after  every  victory,  they 
really  left  the  enemy  garrisoned  in  the  country.  Now  it 
is  certain  that  enthusiasm,  which  is  not  a  normal  state 
of  any  society,  cannot  possibly  destroy  an  established 
and  permanent  interest.  But  the  campaign  was  nobly 


139.  (IV.)  What  was  the  next  step  in  history  of  the  temperance  enterprise  ? 
Describe  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Washingtonian  movement. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  199 

fought  from  the  year  1833  to  the  jTear  1845.  The  plan 
was  fairly  tried,  and  it  failed  only  from  essential  defect. 
The  noblest  leaders  of  the  movement  in  church  and 
state  gradually  opened  out  the  immorality  of  the  traflic, 
and  an  irresistible  public  opinion  was  formed  in  the  right 
direction.  In  1840,  the  Washingtonian  movement  was 
inaugurated  at  Chase's  tavern,  Baltimore,  by  a  few  ear 
nest  spirits,  resolved  on  reforming  themselves  and  their 
fellow-victims  of  the  traflic  by  stirring  moral  appeal. 
John  II.  W.  Hawkins,  J.  Hayes,  of  Maine,  and,  subse 
quently,  J.  B.  Gongh,  were  amongst  the  most  celebrated 
and  efficient  leaders  of  this  remarkable  movement.  For 
some  years,  the  enthusiasm  raged  like  a  prairie  fire.  It 
was  an  inspiration  of  philanthropy  to  convert  drunkard 
and  drunkard-maker  by  "  moral  suasion"  —  and  it  had 
the  fullest  trial.  Absorbing  much  of  the  energy,  it  di 
verted  the  attention  of  the  States  generally  from  "  legal 
suasion."  It  was  aided  greatly,  too,  by  Father  Mathew's 
visit  to  the  States  in  1849  ;  but  it  failed,  for  obvious 
reasons.  It  stirred  up  a  desire  for  freedom,  but  left  the 
temptation  intact ;  it  corrected  the  judgment  and  enlight 
ened  the  conscience,  but  it  did  not  remove  the  seducing 
agency,  and  the  crop  of  evil  grew  rank  and  rapidly. 
Judge  O'Neal  wrote  in  1845,  as  follows  :  — 

"  This  year  a  Washingtouian,  who  sank  into  a  drunkard's 
grave,  said,  —  pointing  to  a  grog-shop  on  the  left,  — « If  I  es 
caped  that  hell,  this  hell '  —pointing  to  another  on  his  right  — 
*  yawns  to  receive  me.'  This  year  has  fully  satisfied  me  that 
moral  suasion  has  had  its  day  of  triumph :  some  other  aids 
must  now  be  sought,  to  keep  what  we  have  gained,  and  to  gain 
stili  more."  * 

*  Gen.  S.  F.  Cury,  of  Cincinnati,  says :    "  Ten  years  ago,  there  was  a  large 


200  TEXT-BOOK   OF 


Gradual^,  however,  the  public  mind  veered  around  to 
the  right  point  of  the  compass  again.  In  1844,  the 
Temperance  Union,  after  the  triumphs  of  Washingtoni- 
anism,  declared  that, 

"  Could  the  temptation  now  be  removed,  and  the  rising  gener 
ation  be  permitted  to  come  up  without  the  allurements  of  the 
bar-room  and  the  grog-shop,  our  beloved  country  would  soon 
exhibit  to  the  world  a  spectacle  of  peace  and  prosperity,  sub 
lime  and  beautiful."  * 

V. 

140.  Thus  true  temperance  men  were  forced  into  polit 
ical  action,  and  the  era  of  no-license  began.  We  give  spe 
cimens  of  the  reasoning  which  led  to  this  course  on  the 
part  of  the  wisest  and  most  thoughful  of  the  leaders. 

The  sentiments  that  were  forming  and  gathering  in 
the  public  mind,  and  destined  to  be  hurled  ere  long 
upon  the  traffic,  we  exhibit  in  the  order  of  their  date, 
extracted  ffom  the  reports  :  — 

number  of  the  Sons  and  Washingtonians  in  this  locality  who  were  violently 
opposed  to  bringing  the  subject  of  temperance  into  political  conflicts.  In 
nn  old  volume  of  the  '  YTashingtonian,'  we  find  accounts  of  these  conflicts 
with  the  suasionists  and  legalists,  and  the  names  of  the  prominent  actors. 
It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  deep  reflection,  that  nearly  all  the  advocates  of  pure 
moral  suasion  have  returned  to  their  cups.  Some  of  them  have  died  drunk 
ards,  and  others  are  at  this  hour  the  most  inveterate  enemies  of  the  temper 
ance  reform.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  were  advocates  of  law,  have 
nearly  all  kept  the  pledge,  and  are  still  reliable  friends  of  the  cause."  — 
"  Crusader,"  Nov.  1,  1850. 

John  Hawkins,  who  from  1840,  to  his  death  in  1857,  did  such  excellent  ser 
vice  in  the  movement,  was  a  firm  friend  of  prohibition,  and  again  and  again 
pointed  out  the  inadequacy  of  mere  "  persuasion  for  the  traffickers." 

*  Tenth  Report  of  the  American  Temperance  Union. 


HO.  (V.)  What  was  the  no-license  era?    Explain  the  reasoning  of  Judge 
Platt  and  Senator  Smith. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  201 

Professor  Ware,  of  Harvard  University,  1832  :  — 

"The  nature  of  his  calling  renders  it  inevitable,  that  he 
cannot  be  a  dealer  in  spirits  without  becoming  accessory  to 
vice  and  ruin." 

President  Way  land,  the  moralist,  1832  :  — 

""Would  it  be  right  for  me  to  derive  my  living  from  selling 
poison,  or  from  propagating  plague  or  leprosy  around  me?" 

The  Presbyterian  Synod  of  Albany,  in  1833,  declared, 
"That  the  traffic  is  an  immorality,  and  ought  to  be 
viewed  as  such  throughout  the  world." 

In  1833,  the  question  was  publicly  debated,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  "  What  right  have  legislators  to 
pass  laws  which  enable  men  legally  to  injure  their  fellow- 
men,  to  increase  their  taxes,  and  expose  their  children 
to  temptation,  drunkenness,  and  ruin  ?  "  The  answer  was 
the  denial  of  the  right  to  ruin ;  and  opinion  rapidly  ri 
pened  into  the  initial  shape  of  prohibition. 

"The  law,"  said  Judge  Platt,  in  1833,  "which  licenses  the 
sale  of  ardent  spirits,  is  an  impediment  to  the  temperance 
reformation.  Whenever  public  opinion  and  the  moral  sense 
of  our  community  shall  be  so  far  corrected  and  matured  as  to 
regard  them  in  their  true  light,  and  when  the  public  safety 
shall  be  thought  to  require  it,  dram-shops  will  be  indictable,  at 
common  law,  as  public  nuisances"  * 

When  the  vendors  charged   the   temperance   friends 

*  Judge  Platt,  at  a  public  convention  in  Clinton  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1833, 
made  a  statement  which  gives  significance  to  the  passage  cited:  — 

4 '  It  is  a  lamentable  fact,  that,  upon  a  careful  estimate,  it  is  found,  that  of 
the  tavern-keepers  and  retailers  of  ardent  spirits  in  this  State,  during  the 
last  forty  years,  more  than  two-thirds  have  become  drunkards," 


202  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

with  departing  from  their  original  programme,  Mr.  Gerrit 
Smith  (now  Senator)  nobly  replied  :  — 

"I  admit  that  a  grand  object,  within  the  scope  of  the  consti 
tution  and  labors  of  the  society  is  that  of  persuading  our 
fellow-men  to  refrain  from  ardent  spirit;  but  I  do  not  see  why 
we  might  not  also  seek  to  remove  the  hindrances  to  this  accom 
plishment.  Now,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  ardent  spirit 
constitute  confessedly  a  very  great  hindrance  to  the  work  of 
inducing  our  fellow-men  to  quit  the  drinking  of  it.  Could  a  soci 
ety  that  should  require  its  members  to  abstain  from  purchasing 
lottery  tickets  be  expected  to  preserve  silence  on  the  subject 
of  lottery  offices  ?  Could  a  society  formed  to  discountenance 
gambling  be  expected  to  look  with  unconcern  on  the  licensed 
allurements  of  gambling-/ior<ses  9  No  more  can  ours  look  with 
indifference  on  the  attractions  and  snares  of  the  rum-shop. 
As  in  the  one  case,  the  lottery  office  and  gambling-house  irre 
sistibly  invite  thousands  to  purchase  tickets,  and  to  stake 
their  money  at  cards  or  billiards,  who  but  for  the  sight  of 
these  resorts  would  never  have  fallen  into  this  folly,  so  is  it  in 
the  other,  that  men  drink  ardent  spirit  because  of  the  inviting 
facilities  for  getting  it ;  and  so  it  is,  that  whilst  these  facilities 
exist,  our  direct  efforts  to  promote  total  abstinence  will  be 
measurably,  if  not  fatally,  counteracted  by  them.  Such  views  we 
must  certainly  admit  to  be  just,  unless  wo  deny  what  the  Bible, 
our  hearts,  and  daily  observation  alike  teach  us,  of  the  power 
of  temptation." 

141.  The  cry  of  "No  license"  was  first  heard  in  the 
municipalities.  The  popular  voice  electing  its  rulers, 
this  battle  was  attended  with  varying  fortune,  in  various 
districts,  and  in  many  was  annually  renewed.  The  con 
test,  however,  was  of  immense  service.  In  it,  the 


141.  What  were  the  results  of  refusing  licenses?    Give  the  summary  of 
the  lessons  taught. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  203 

"  Ironsides "  of  our  Commonwealth  were  getting  dis 
ciplined.  Proof  of  the  anti-social,  pauperizing,  crime- 
breeding  character  of  the  traffic  became  matter  of  clear 
arithmetic,  and  created  that  feeling  and  conviction  which 
afterwards  culminated  in  the  State  Law  of  Maine.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  great  success  attended  this 
preliminary  agitation.  Throughout  the  "  Old  Colony," 
where  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  first  settled,  the  "no-license" 
principle  triumphed  so  far  back  as  1832,  —  a  district 
comprehending  two  counties  and  several  considerable 
towns. 

"  In  BarnstaUe  and  Duke's  Counties,  in  1835,  after  vacations 
of  three,  four,  and  seven  months,  the  judges  had  to  preside  over 
two  criminals  only,  and  these  for  a  petty  larceny  of  less  than  two 
dollars." 

In  1834,  the  State  of  Georgia  was  greatly  agitated  on 
the  subject  of  the  traffic.  She  expelled  it  from  the  seat 
of  her  university,  and  tested  in  two  counties  the  author 
ity  to  grant  or  refuse  licenses.  In  Liberty  County,  with  a 
population  of  8,000,  not  one  drop  could  be  purchased. 

In  the  County  of  Suffolk,  Massachusetts,  licenses  were 
reduced  from  613  to  314 ;  in  Hampshire  County,  from 
83  to  8.  In  Plymouth  and  Bristol  Counties,  and  in 
numerous  towns,  no  licenses  were  given,  and  in  many  of 
them  no  ardent  spirits  sold.  "  In  some  of  those  towns, 
however,  men  who  love  the  poison  have  sent  for  it  to 
Boston."  * 

In  1844,  in  Connecticut,  temperance  commissioners 
•were  elected  in  200  out  of  220  towns.  On  the  19th  May, 
1845,  four-fifths  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  New  York 

*  American  Temperance  Documents,  1.,  p.  34. 


204  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE'. 

State  gave  a  strong  vote  against  license.  The  State 
votes  collectively  were, — pro,  111,884;  contra,  177,- 
683.  In  1845,  the  effects  of  prohibition  in  Massachu 
setts  were  thus  stated  :  — 

"  From  more  than  100  towns  the  traffic  is  entirely  removed, 
and  a  reduction  is  already  visible  in  the  public  taxation.  In 
cue  town,  with  a  population  of  7,000,  there  were,  four  years 
since,  4G9  paupers ;  '  no  license  '  has  reduced  them  down  to 
11."* 

In  the  County  of  Ontario,  under  the  operation  of  no 
license,  the  inmates  of  the  jail  were  reduced  from  125 
in  the  year  1845,  to  53  in  1846.  In  1847,  licenses  were 
again  granted,  and  the  inmates  of  the  jail  increased  to 
132.  In  the  County  of  Genessee,  a  similar  course  of 
things,  no  license  succeeding  to  license,  produced  simi 
lar  issues. 

In  Potter  County,  Pennyslvania,  the  traffic  has  been 
for  a  considerable  time  suppressed,  the  judge  refusing  to 
grant  any  license. 

"  The  prison  has  become  tenantlcss  ;  there  is  not  a  solitary  pau 
per  in  the  county  ;  the  business  in  the  criminal  court  has  ceased, 
and  taxes  have  been  reduced  one-half/' 

It  was  eventually  discovered  that  local  experiments  ad 
mitted  of  smuggling  from  neighboring  districts,  though 
the  results  of  the  law  were  still  good.  But  its  fault  was 
its  limitation,  — they  hadn't  enough  of  it.  It  was  with 
this  measure  as  it  has  been  with  our  laws  for  the  sup 
pression  of  the  slave-trade.  The  league  to  put  it  down 
was  not,  at  first,  sufficiently  extensive.  Nevertheless,  it 

*  American  Temperance  Documents,  !.,  p.  393. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  205 

was  a  great  boon.    "  WJiat  are  the  facts?  "  says  an  appeal 
of  the  day. 

"  Four  times  as  many  crimes  are  committed  in  places  in  which 
liquor  is  sold  as  in  places  in  which  it  is  not  sold.  And,  in  a  num 
ber  of  cases,  after  the  sale  of  it  had  been  abandoned,  and.  the 
use  of  it  had  ceased,  the  criminal  docket  had  been  cleared,  and  the 
jails  comparatively  empty.  It  increases,  then,  the  power  of 
temptation,  and  it  is  thus  a  palpable  violation  of  the  revealed 
will  of  God." 

Facts  and  opinions,  of  which  the  following  are  a 
sample,  were  at  this  period  promulgated  throughout  the 
States :  — 

In  Catskill,  New  York,  Dr.  Hoagland  and  other  gen 
tlemen  made  a  minute  examination  and  report  of  the 
condition  of  things.  Though  eight  merchants  had  aban 
doned  the  trade  in  spirits,  and  though  a  large  proportion 
of  the  best  families,  and  one-third  of  the  inhabitants, 
had  joined  the  temperance  society,  these  facts  were 
elicited :  — 

38  persons  were  engaged  in  the  traffic,  —  or  1  dealer  to 
every  40  persons  not  abstainers.  Some  of  these  places, 
they  say,  are  perfect  schools  of  vice. 

130  habitual  drunkards  were  traced,  —  or  1  in 
every  17  of  the  whole  population,  —  or  1  in  every  11, 
excluding  the  abstainers.  Many  others  are  free  drinkers 
and  occasional  drunkards. 

Of  those  who  are  already  inebriates,  or  advancing  to 
that  condition,  there  are  2  in  every  7  of  the  drinking 
population. 

Taking  the  whole  of  Greene  County,  it  was  shown 
that  of  300  criminals  who  had  been  imprisoned  in  the 


20G  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

jail  during  7  j^ears,  all,  save  3,  were  intemperate  ;  of  60 
debtors,  every  one. 

Of  those  who  had  received  aid  at  the  county  poorhouse, 
during  3  years,  one-fifth  were  juveniles,  of  whom  seven- 
eighths  were  children,  often  orphans  of  the  intemperate. 
Three-fifths  of  the  adult  females  were  intemperate  ;  one- 
fifth  dependents  on  intemperate  husbands,  etc.  Each  year 
above  300  such  paupers.  But  for  intoxicating  liquors, 
therefore,  any  public  provision  for  the  support  of  the  poor 
would  scarcely  have  been  necessary.  The  whole  cost 
of  pauperism  and  crime,  flowing  from  intemperance, 
amounted  to  $8,634. 

In  Columbus,  Ohio,  of  44  persons  found  dead,  the 
coroner's  inquest  was,  that  38  of  them  came  to  their 
death  by  drink. 

The  Philadelphia,  Medical  Society  testified,  after  full 
inquiry  through  a  special  committee,  that  out  of  4,292 
deaths,  in  that  city,  above  700  (or  one  in  seven)  were 
occasioned  by  drink. 

VI. 

142.  State  action  was  the  natural  result  of  municipal, 
being  the  growth  and  extension  of  the  same  idea.  State 
conventions  were  held  all  over  the  Union  for  many  years, 
sometimes  attended  by  500  delegates,  thus  laying  the 
foundation  for  a  change  which,  some  daj7,  would  astonish 
the  mere  politicians.  Vermont  went  in  for  a  State  no- 
license  law ;  in  1847,  the  votes  for  license  were  13,707, 

142.  (VI.)  What  epoch  followed  "no   license"?    What  were  the  first 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  207 

for  no  license,  21,793;  in  1849,  for  11,205,  against 
23,884. 

The  State  of  Connecticut,  since  1834,  had  made,  "li 
cense"  or  "  no  license  "  one  of  its  political  issues  ;  and 
frequently  carried  the  negative  by  overwhelming  ma 
jorities.  She  guarded  herself  against  the  traffic  by 
erecting  some  additional  fences  around  it.  In  May,  the 
Legislature  reported  a  fact  of  great  moment,  showing 
that  license  is  vastly  more  easy  of  evasion  than  prohi 
bition.  "  From  a  recent  examination  in  New  Haven,  it 
was  found  to  contain  60  grog-shops  ivhere  liquor  was  sold 
contrary  to  law."  In  other  States  the  same  battle,  with 
the  same  weapons,  —  the  ballot-box,  —  was  waged  with 
varying  success.  During  the  presidency  of  General 
Andrew  Jackson,  in  1834,  the  principle  of  a  prohibitory 
liquor  law  was  distinctly  admitted  by  the  government 
in  reference  to  one  portion  of  its  subjects  ;  and  the  pre 
cedent,  at  any  rate,  was  established  for  its  application 
to  all.  We  allude  to  the  law  u/or  the  Protection  of  the 
Indian  Tribes"  which,  prohibiting  the  sale  of  all  strong 
liquors  to  the  red  men,  enforced  its  commands  by  in 
structing  and  authorizing  the  Indian  agents  summarily 
to  seize  and  destroy  all  such  liquors  introduced  for  sale 
into  the  Indian  territory,  —  a  provision  which  was  rig 
idly  and  righteously  enforced. 

In  February,  1837,  an  able  report  was  made  by  a 
committee  of  the  Legislature  of  Maine,  founded  on  very 
numerous  petitions  which  had  been  presented,  claiming 
protection  against  the  issues  of  the  traffic.  The  corn- 


experiments  in  State  law  ?    What  was  the  Indian  law  ?    Who  inaugurated 
the  first  attempts  at  a  State  law  in  Maine  ? 


208  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

mittee  framed  a  prohibitory  bill,  which,  though  lost 
in  the  Legislature,  was  taken  up  by  the  people.* 
They  clung  tenaciously  to  the  conception,  carried  the 
proposition  to  the  ballot-box,  and,  three  years  later, 
elected  a  Legislature  that  passed  the  bill,  only  to  be 
vetoed  by  the  governor. 

In  1838,  Tennessee  passed  a  stringent  license-law,  re 
stricting  the  retail  sale  of  drink  to  one  quart,  or 
more.  A  gentleman  travelling  there  in  1839,  writes : 
"  A  most  happy  change  is  already  realized  ;  taverns 
once  disorderly  are  now  quiet  and  comfortable  places 
for  the  weary  traveller."  f  In  1838,  a  convention  of  400 
delegates  J  presented  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  which  had  these  pointed  questions  :  — 

"  Is  it  right  to  give  authority  to  sell  insanity,  and  deal  out 
sure  destruction  ?  If  it  is  right,  why  should  any  be  forbidden 
to  do  it?  If  not  right,  why  should  any  be  permitted  to  do  it? 
Why  forbid  all  but  « men  of  sober  life  and  conversation '  to  do 
this,  if  it  be  right?  Why  allow  such  to  do  it  if  it  be  wrong? 
It  may  be  too  much  to  expect  from  human  laws,  that  they  pro 
tect  the  morals  of  society  from  corruption ;  but  is  it  too  much 
to  ask  that  they  will  not  throw  open  the  doors  of  temptation?" 

*  It  was  in  1837  that  Mr.  K"eal  DOAV  became  prominently  connected  with 
the  prohibitory  movement.  This  gentleman  was  born  at  Portland,  March 
20,  1S04.  His  family  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  but  he  him 
self  is  a  Congregationalist;  by  business,  a  supervisor  of  a  large  tannery; 
and  a  person  of  abundant  means.  Maine  contains  a  very  earnest  and  homo 
geneous  population,  intent  on  their  own  business,  careful  of  their  estates, 
sober,  moral,  and  religious  in  their  habits,  and  of  great  persistency  of  char 
acter.  Mr.  Dow  is  an  excellent  type  of  the  men  of  Maine,  and  worthy  of 
their  confidence.  lie  became  a  general  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
has  twice  visited  Britain,  gratuitously,  in  the  service  of  prohibition,  effect 
ing  vast  good. 

t  "  Journal  of  American  Temperance  Union,"  Feb.,  1845,  p.  24. 

J  This  convention  founded  a  State  Temperance  Society,  on  total  abstinence 
principles, 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  209 

In  March,  the  legislative  committee  reported,  recom 
mending  prohibition.  On  the  13th  April,  a  bill  was 
passed  prohibiting  the  sale  of  spirits  in  less  quantities 
than  15  gallons. 

In  1839,  Mississippi  enacted  the  one-gallon  law ; 
while  Illinois  granted  power  to  towns  and  counties  to 
suppress  the  retail  traffic  on  petition  signed  by  a  majority 
of  adult  male  inhabitants. 

143.  These  laws  occasioned  the  mooting  of  a  legal  point 
as  to  their  "  constitutionality,"  in  the  Supreme  Court.  In 
January,  1847,  the  license  causes  of  Thurlow  vs.  Mas 
sachusetts,  Fletcher  vs.  Rhode  Island,  and  Pierce  vs. 
New  Hampshire,  came  on  for  hearing.  It  appeared 
that  the  town  of  Cumberland,  Rhode  Island,  had  refused 
license.  The  judgment  of  the  court  below,  in  each  case, 
was  unanimously  affirmed,  to  wit,  that  these  laws 
"were  not  inconsistent  with  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  nor  with  any  acts  of  Congress."  The 
decision  covered  two  points, — the  extent  to  which  licenses 
might  be  conceded,  and  the  right  to  prohibit  unlicensed 
sale.* 

Chief  Justice  Tane}r,  in  delivering  judgment,  said:  — 

"  Although  a  State  is  bound  to  receive  and  permit  the  sale, 
by  the  importer,  of  any  article  of  merchandise  which  Congress 
authorizes  to  be  imported,  it  is  not  bound  to  furnish  a  market 
for  it,  nor  to  abstain  from  the  passage  of  any  law  which  it  may 
deem  necessary  or  advisable  to  guard  the  health  or  morals  of 
its  citizens,  although  such  law  may  discourage  importation,  or 

*  See  5  Howard's  Reports,  504. 


143.  What  legal  point  was  raised  ?   What  was  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  ? 

14 


210  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPETIAXCE. 

dirainish  the  profits  of  the  importer,  or  lessen  the  revenue  of 
the  government.  And  if  any  State  deem  the  retail  and  internal 
traffic  in  ardent  spirits  injurious  to  citizens,  and  calculated  to 
produce  idleness,  vice,  or  debauchery,  I  see  nothing  in  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  to  prevent  it  from  regulating 
and  restraining  the  traffic,  or  from  prohibiting  it  altogther  if  it 
thinks  proper."  * 

And  in  regard  to  liquors  brought  in  from  other 
States :  — 

"  The  law  of  New  Hampshire  is  a  valid  law ;  for  although 
the  gin  sold  was  an  import  from  another  State,  Congress  has 
already  the  power  to  regulate  such  importations ;  yet,  as  Con 
gress  has  made  no  regulations  on  the  subject,  the  traffic  in  the 
article  may  be  lawfully  regulated  by  the  State  as  soon  as  it  is 
landed  in  its  territory,  and  a  tax  imposed  upon  it,  or  a  license 
required,  or  the  sale  prohibited,  according  to  the  policy  which 
the  State  may  suppose  to  be  its  interest  or  its  duty  to  pur 
sue." 

Mr.  Justice  McLean  concurred  in  the  decision,  and 
said :  — 

"  If  the  foreign  article  be  injurious  to  the  health  or  the 
morals  of  the  community,  a  State  may,  in  the  exercise  of  that 
great  and  comprehensive  police  power  which  lies  at  the  founda 
tion  of  its  prosperity,  prohibit  the  sale  of  it.  The  acknowl 
edged  police  power  of  a  State  extends  often  to  the  destruction  of 
propert}r.  A  nuisance  may  be  abated.  Everything  prejudicial 
to  the  health  or  morals  of  a  city  may  be  removed."  f 

Mr.  Justice  Catren  also  agreed  with  the  Chief  Jus 
tice  :  — 

*  See  5  Howard's  Reports,  573.  f  Ibid.,  592. 


State  the  principal  points  in  the  argument  of  Chief  Justice  Taney.    Of 
Justice  McLean.    Of  Justice  Catren.    Of  Justice  Daniel.    Of  Justice  Grier. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  211 

"I  admit,  as  inevitable,  that  if  the  State  has  the  power  of 
restraint  by  licenses  to  any  extent,  she  has  the  discretionary 
power  to  judge  of  its  limit,  and  may  go  the  length  of  prohibit 
ing  it  altogether." 

Mr.  Justice  Daniel,  in  answer  to  the  argument  that 
the  importer  purchases  the  right  to  sell,  when  he  pays 
duties  to  government,  said :  — 

"No  such  right  as  the  one  supposed  is  purchased  by  the  im 
porter,  and  no  injury,  in  any  accurate  sense,  is  inflicted  on  him 
by  denying  to  him  the  power  demanded.  He  has  not  pur 
chased  and  cannot  purchase,  from  the  government,  that  which 
it  could  not  ensure  to  him,  —  a  sale  independently  of  the  laws 
and  policy  of  the  States."  * 

Mr.  Justice  Grier  thus  asserted  both  the  right  of  pro 
hibiting  sale,  and  that  of  the  seizure  and  destruction  of 
property :  — 

"All  the  laws  for  the  restraint  or  punishment  of  crime,  or 
the  preservation  of  the  public  peace,  health,  and  morals,  are, 
from  their  very  nature,  of  primary  importance,  and  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  social  existence.  They  are  for  the  protection  of 
life  and  liberty,  and  necessarily  compel  all  laws  on  subjects  of 
secondary  importance,  which  relate  only  to  property,  convenience, 
or  luxury,  to  recede  when  they  come  in  contact  or  collision.  SA- 
LUS  POPULI  SUPREMA  LEX.  The  exigencies  of  the  social  com 
pact  require  that  such  laws  be  executed  before  and  above  all 
others.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  quarantine  laws,  which  protect 
public  health,  compel  mere  commercial  regulations  to  submit  to 
their  control.  They  restrain  the  liberty  of  the  passengers ;  they 
operate  on  the  ship,  which  is  the  instrument  of  commerce,  and 
its  officers  and  crew,  the  agents  of  navigation.  They  seize  the 
infected  cargo,  and  cast  it  overboard.  All  these  things  are 

*  See  5  Howard's  Reports,  C16. 


212  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

done,  not  from  any  power  which  the  State  assumes  to  regulate 
commerce,  or  interfere  with  the  regulations  of  Congress,  but 
because  police  laws  for  the  prevention  of  crime  and  protection 
of  public  welfare  must  of  necessity  have  full  and  free  opera 
tion,  according  to  the  exigency  that  requires  their  intzrference."  * 

144.  The  position  and  feelings  of  the  temperance  party, 
immediately  prior  to  the  passing  of  the  Maine  Law,  were 
one  of  mingled  disappointment,  hope,  and  despondency. 
Notwithstanding  a  moral-suasion  movement  carried  on 
for  twenty  years,  with  a  machinery  unprecedented  for  its 
magnitude,  and  with  a  success  almost  marvellous,  —  a 
movement  that  had  gathered  into  its  ranks  the  successive 
rulers  of  the  republic,  the  highest  teachers,  the  most  dis 
tinguished  popular  leaders,  the  great  organs  of  the  press, 
and  the  almost  universal  church  of  the  Western  world, 
—  a  movement  that  had  manifested  its  power  in  redeem 
ing  tens  of  thousands,  in  moulding  fashion,  in  conquer 
ing  appetite  and  interest,  and  in  penetrating  and 
permeating  with  its  opinions,  platform  and  press,  pulpit 
and  forum,  the  school,  the  college,  and  the  halls  of 
legislation,  —  notwithstanding  this  career  of  progress, 
which,  amongst  moral  and  social  organizations,  is  peer 
less  in  the  history  of  modern  times,  intemperance  was 
scarcely  visibly  diminished,  but,  in  the  great  towns, 
rolled  in  like  a  devastating  flood.  True,  there  was  a 
mighty  difference  between  1812  and  1831,  and,  in  senti 
ment,  between  1831  and  1851.  The  fifteenth  report  of 
the  Temperance  Union  says  :  — 

*  See  5  Howard's  Reports,  632. 


144.  What  were  the  feelings  of  the  friends  of  the  Maine  Law  ?   What  was 
beginning  to  be  the  feeling  in  relation  to  moral  suasion? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  213 

"  The  committee  feel  no  disposition  to  pass  lightly  by  the 
evil,  or  to  overrate  the  work  accomplished.  Intemperance  is 
most  appalling  in  our  laud.  Its  enginery  is  tremendous.  The 
capital  invested  in  the  traffic  it  is  impossible  to  estimate. 
Moral  suasion  has  well-nigh  done  its  icorlc"  —  i.  e.,  all  that  it  is 
competent  to  do. 

"  Little  more  could  be  done,"  said  a  veteran  reformer, 
S.  C.  Allen,  in  addressing  the  legislative  society  of 
Massachusetts,  "  witJioutmore  efficient  legal  action."  The 
Rev.  T.  Brainard,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  six 
teenth  anniversary  of  the  Temperance  Union,  charac 
teristically  expressed  the  same  truth :  — 

"  We  have  come  to  a  class  of  men  who  love  money  better  than 
the  right.  The  present  laws  have  never  been  executed.  They  never 
can  be  executed.  We  have  used  up  the  conscience  of  the  com" 
munity.  The  men  that  have  a  conscience  have  abandoned  the 
traffic:'' 

145.  History  shows  the  utter  hostility  of  the  traffic  to 
all  reform,  and  the  folly  of  compromises.  The  following 
illustrations,  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  American  law- 
reports,*  show  that  the  traffic  is  restless  under  every 
restraint,  impatient  and  evasive  under  every  regulation, 
—  that  it  not  only  engenders  defiance  of  law  in  its  sup 
porters  and  victims,  but  is  inveterately  defiant  of 
control,  —  and  that  all  concessions  of  confidence  have 
been  blunders  of  policy. 

*  Johnson's  Reports,  xiv.,  p.  231.  Cowen's  Reports,  i.,  p.  77.  Wendell's 
Reports,  xiii.,  xv.,  xix.  Hill's  Reports,  i.,  55;  iii,,  p.  150;  vi.,  p.  58.  Demo's 
Reports,  i.,  p.  540. 


145.  What  has  always  been  the  position  of  the  traffic  to  all  reform  ?    What 
eight  illustrations  are  given  ? 


214  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

(a.)  The  demand  of  a  " moral  character"  in  the  con 
ductor  of  a  grog-shop  was  sought  to  be  evaded  by  an 
assignment  of  license  !  The  judges  properly  ruled  that 
"  character  "  was  not  transferable. 

(b.)  The  demand  that  sales  of  liquor  should  be  in 
quantities  of  five  gallons,  and  not  for  tippling  purposes, 
was  set  at  nought  by  selling  altogether,  and  delivering 
by  instalments.  The  judges  ruled  against  the  impudent 
fiction. 

(c.)  The  decree  that  the  distinct  and  double  offences 
of  selling  intoxicating  liquors  in  illegal  quantities  and  at 
illegal  times,  and  doing  so  without  a  license,  had  separate 
penalties,  was  attempted  to  be  argued  into  one  offence 
with  a  single  penalty  !  —  so  that  conviction  on  one  point 
would  be  acquittal  on  the  other.  The  judges  ruled 
against  this  modest  plea  of  the  traffickers  also. 

(d.)  The  demand  that  liquor  should  be  sold  only  under 
the  authority  of  a  license  was  sought  to  be  ignored  by 
calling  upon  the  prosecutor  to  prove  the  negative, — viz., 
that  the  seller  had  no  license !  This  was  as  if  a  sheriffs 
officer,  when  called  upon  to  show  his  writ  of  arrest,  were 
to  answer,  "  You  must  prove  that  I  have  not  one  !  " 

(e.)  The  law  that  placed  the  power  to  license  in  the 
board  of  excise,  on  specified  conditions,  was  attempted 
to  be  quashed  by  an  application  to  the  Supreme  Court 
to  compel  by  writ  the  granting  of  a  license,  —  thus  really 
vesting  the  power  in  the  applicant!  The  judges  of 
course  overruled  this  plea,  as  well  as  the  preceding. 

(/.)  When  the  community  sued  by  its  overseers,  it  was 
argued  that,  as  the  penalties  went  to  the  poor-fund, 
nobody  in  that  parish  could  sue,  because  everybody  was 
interested  in  the  fine  ! 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  215 

(g.)  The  traffickers  at  last  declared  that  the  restriction 
of  the  trade  at  all  was  unconstitutional !  In  1845,  the 
overseers  of  Norwich,  County  Chcnango,  N.  Y.,  sued 
the  two  INGERSOLLS  for  the  penalty  imposed  upon  the 
sale  of  rum  in  less  quantity  than  five  gallons.  The 
publicans  pleaded,  1st.  That  two  persons  cannot  be  sued 
jointly  ;  2d.  That  the  statue  conflicted  with  the  consti 
tution  of  the  States,  and  was  void.  The  judge  decided 
against  both  pleas. 

(7i.)  The  law  which  calls  for  a  license  to  sell  "  the  dan 
gerous  article"  was  in  1851  made  a  plea  for  SUPPRESSING 
"  temperance  taverns"  where  only  innocent  refreshments 
were  sold  ;  with  a  view  to  secure  to  the  traffic  not  only 
the  monopoly  of  drink-license,  but  also  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  offering  a  safe  accommodation  to  the  traveller. 
The  court  decided  that  "  no  license  is  necessary  to  au 
thorize  the  business  of  tavern-keeping,  the  right  to  do  so 
being  common  to  all  citizens" 

146.  Maine,  in  1846,  after  fierce  struggling  and  legis 
lative  debates,  had  the  honor  of  first  placing  a  prohibi 
tive  liquor  law  upon  its  statute  book  ;  but,  as  might  have 
been  predicted,  while  the  law  was  correct  in  its  princi 
ples,  its  adversaries  took  care  to  mar  it  in  its  methods 
and  sanctions.  A  law  of  the  nature  of  the  one  in  ques 
tion  —  opposed  to  the  interest,  appetite,  and  custom  of  a 
large  minority  —  could  not  be  expected  to  escape  eva 
sion,  unless  it  originated  a  new  executive  machinery,  or 
had  some  peculiarly  effective  sanction  ;  nay,  even  in  the 
best  of  cases,  such  a  law  would  have  an  ordeal  to  pass 


U6.    What  State  had  the  honor  of  first  adopting  the  prohibitory  law  ?    To 
what  was  it  opposed  ?    Would  it  escape  evasion  ? 


21G  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

through,  and  to  starve  out  the  established  forces  of  the 
old  system.  The  prohibitory  law  of  1846,  however,  gave 
no  power  to  arrest  the  real  offender,  —  the  liquor,  — but 
sought  to  sustain  its  provisions  by  the  old  apparatus  of 
fines.  The  rum-sellers  sold  secretly  where  they  could, 
but  at  all  events  sold,  and  when  detected  paid  the  fines 
out  of  the  profits  of  the  offence.  The  law  did  not  yet 
allow  the  liquor  itself  to  be  its  own  evidence,  and  so 
gave  room  for  the  immoral  traffickers  to  evade  convic 
tion  by  perpetrating  perjury.  The  law.  it  is  true,  was 
vindicated  by  penalties  ;  but  it  did  not  secure  respect ; 
for  the  liquor  was  left  entrenched  within  the  borders  of 
the  traffic.  The  laiv  failed  because  it  ivas  not  as  thorough 
in  its  apparatus  as  in  its  principle. 

Was  the  case,  then,  hopeless?  Must  societj^  with 
the  knowledge  and  sufferings  of  a  prodigious  evil,  sit 
down  in  despair  of  ever  removing  it?  Not  so.  "  If  this 
law  is  a  failure,"  said  the  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  of  Portland, 
"  there  must  be  a  reason  for  it."  Like  other  prohibitory 
laws,  he  argued,  it  denounced  the  wrong  —  but,  unlike 
them,  it  tolerated  the  instrument  of  the  wrong.  A  paral 
lel  to  such  legislation  would  have  been  to  prohibit  lot 
teries,  gambling,  and  forgeries, — and  respect  as  "lawful " 
property,  the  lottery  ticket,  the  gambler's  dice,  and  the 
forger's  die.  Henceforth,  with  that  directness  and 
earnestness  which  distinguish  him,  he  proclaimed  CON 
FISCATION  OF  THE  LIQUOR  AS  THE  practical  CORRELATIVE 

OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  PROHIBITION,  —  a  guaranty,  without 
which  any  liquor  "law  must  ever    prove  a  dead-letter. 


How  did  it  differ  from  that  of  1840?    Why  did  the  law  fail  ?    What  was 
the  peculiarity  of  the  Maine  Law  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  217 

This,  and  no  other,  is  the  peculiarity  of  what  is  called, 
by  way  of  eminence,  The  Maine  Liquor  Laiv.  As 
pirated  books  are  now  summarily  burnt  by  our  custom 
house  officers,  so  confiscated  liquor  was  to  be  spilt  or 
otherwise  destroyed  by  the  State  officers,  whenever  dis 
covered.  The  "  rummies,"  as  they  are  called,  struggled 
with  desperation,  and  strained  every  nerve,  but  were 
utterly  routed.  The  temperance  party,  under  the  lead 
ership  of  Mr.  Dow,  carried  the  elections  of  1849,  and  in 
May,  1851,  by  an  average  vote  of  two  to  one,  the  bill 
passed  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  and  on 
the  second  of  June  became  law,  by  receiving  the  signa 
ture  of  the  governor  of  the  State.*  This  law  permitted 
the  apparatus  of  the  traffic  to  be  received  as  evidence, 
just  as  are  the  implements  of  the  gambler  and  coiner, 
and  conferred  upon  the  officers  the  summary  power  of 
destroying  the  liquor. 

Opportunity  was  allowed  for  diverting  liquor  to  le 
gitimate  uses,  or  disposing  of  it  bej^ond  the  State. 
This  was  embraced,  and  preparation  made  generally  in 
the  cities  and  towns  to  acquiesce  in  the  demands  of  the 
law,  showing  that  law  is  a  potent  instrument  in  creating 
as  well  as  expressing  public  sentiment.  Here  and 

*  The  law  provides  for  the  sale  of  alcohol  for  mechanical  and  medicinal 
(including  artistic  and  chemical)  purposes,  ly  the  appointment  of  a  district 
agent,  under  bonds,  and  with  a  fixed  salary.  It  does  not  concern  itself  with 
the  private  acts  of'home  brewing,  or  importation  (indeed,  the  laws  of  the 
Federal  Union  protect  importation)  in  the  "  original  package."  It  regards 
every  man's  home  as  his  castle,  and  only  seeks  to  meddle  with  the  overt  act 
of  sale ;  confiscating  all  stores  of  liquor  of  which  apart  has  heen  sold,  just 
as  revenue  officers  would  seize  a  whole  bale  of  goods  on  proof  of  any  part 
of  Ihem  having  been  smuggled. 

What  was  the  effect  of  the  law  upon  public  sentiment  ? 


218  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

there,  however,  several  publicans  had  the  temerity  to 
retain  their  stores  of  liquor,  which  became  liable  to 
seizure  and  destruction.  The  first  seizure  and  confisca 
tion  was  made  at  Bangor,  by  order  of  the  mayor  ;  and 
on  the  glorious  4th  of  July,  1851,  the  city  marshal 
rolled  out  from  the  basement  of  the  City  Hall  ten  casks 
of  confiscated  liquor,  and  destroyed  the  whole  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  people.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Dow,  as  mayor  of 
Portland,  a  city  where  great  wealth  had  been  made  by 
distilling,  issued  his  search-warrant  on  accredited  sus 
picion  of  sale,  and  $2,000  worth  of  liquor  was  seized 
and  destroyed.  On  both  occasions  the  populace  wit 
nessed  the  destruction  in  respectful  silence.  Other 
seizures  followed,  and  nowhere  did  the  law  meet  with 
any  grave  opposition.  Liquors  smuggled  from  neigh 
boring  non  Maine  Law  States,  by  various  and  often 
ridiculous  devices,  quickly  fell  into  the  grasp  of  the 
marshals  and  sheriffs,  and  received  their  legal  doom. 
Drunkenness  rapidly  diminished  ;  disorder  disappeared  ; 
almshouses  grew  desolate ;  houses  of  correction  and 
jails  thinly  inhabited  or  entirely  closed  ;  while  external 
signs  of  moral  and  social  prosperity  were  everywhere 
visible.  Evasions  of  the  law  suggested  new  clauses  for 
meeting  them,  which  were  passed  by  votes  of  two  to  one. 
Farmers,  it  appears,  were  allowed  to  manufacture  cider, 
and  sell  it  in  quantities  of  not  less  than  twenty-eight  gal 
lons  ;  but  it,  also,  came  under  ban  and  forfeiture  when 
found  in  tippling-shops. 

147.  Let  us  here  finish  the  history  of  the  law  in  Maine. 
Year  after  year  passed  awa}T,  during  which  it  vindicated 


What  was  clone  under  the  seizure  act  ? 

147.  Relate  the  further  history  of  the  law.    "\Vhnt  suits  followed  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  219 

its  power  for  good,  while  faithfully  executed.  Its  enemies 
attempted  in  vain  to  excite  disturbance  of  any  serious 
kind  ;  and  at  last  resorted  to  one  of  the  vilest  and  most 
unscrupulous  conspiracies  against  justice  which  history 
records.  In  May,  1835,  libels  on  the  character  of  Mr. 
Dow  were  privately  circulated,  and  appeals  made  to  the 
jealousy  of  the  law's  observance.  The  Portland  board 
of  aldermen  appointed  the  mayor  and  two  aldermen  as  a 
sub-committee  to  take  steps  for  the  establishment  (pur 
suant  to  law)  of  a  "  City  Agency  "  for  the  sale  of  alcohol 
for  mechanical,  medicinal,  and  chemical  purposes  only. 
The  mayor  took  steps  accordingly,  and  purchased  a 
quantity  of  liquor,  which  he  ordered  to  be  deposited  in 
the  City  Hall.  His  enemies  immediatel}7  had  it  bruited 
about  that  Neal  Dow  had  become  a  liquor  seller  on  a 
large  scale,  in  violation  of  his  own  law ;  and  obtained  a 
warrant  against  him  "  for  having  liquors  unlawfully  in 
his  possession."  The  officer  of  the  court  which  issued 
the  warrant  at  once  seized  the  liquors  in  the  City  Hall. 
The  case  was  tried  in  a  few  days,  and  resulted  in  the 
following  judicial  decision  :  — 

"From  the  whole  evidence,  the  court  finds  that  these  liquors 
were  ordered  by  a  committee  chosen  by  the  board  of  alder 
men  for  that  purpose;  that  they  were  ordered  for  the  city 
agency,  and  for  lawful  sale ;  that  they  were  sent  marked  and 
invoiced  to  the  city  agency;  that  they  were  placed  in  the 
room  which  had  been  appropriated  for  the  city  agency,  and 
found  in  the  possession  of  the  city  agent,  legally  appointed 
previous  to  this  complaint.  From  these  facts  the  court  de 
cides,  that  they  were  not  kept  by  the  defendant  with  an  intent 
to  sell  in  violation  of  the  law,  and  that  he  is  not  guilty  of  the 
charge  made  against  him  in  the  complaint.  It  is  ordered, 
therefore,  that  he  be  discharged,  and  that  the  liquors  seized  by 


220  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

the  officer  be  returned  to  the  city  agent,  from  whom  they 
were  taken." 

Before  trial  came  on,  however,  a  mob  of  persons  as 
sembled  in  front  of  the  Cit}^  Hall,  and  became  very 
riotous.  They  smashed  the  windows  of  the  hall,  burst 
open  the  door,  threw  stones  and  brickbats,  and  severely 
injured  several  of  the  police.  To  prevent  them  from 
breaking  into  the  place,  drinking  the  liquor,  and  com 
mitting  frightful  excesses,  the  ma}Tor,  after  the  riot  act 
had  been  read,  and  blank  cartridge  fired  in  vain,  ordered 
the  military  to  fire  with  ball.  Several  of  the  rioters 
were  wounded,  one  of  them  killed,  and  the  riot  effectually 
quelled.  A  coroner's  jury  returned  the  following  just 
verdict :  — 

"John  Bobbins  came  to  his  death  by  a  gunshot  wound,  a 
musket,  pistol,  or  revolver  ball,  shot  through  his  body  by  some 
persons  unknown  to  the  inquest,  acting  under  the  authority 
and  order  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  City  of  Portland, 
in  defence  of  the  city  property  from  the  ravages  of  an  excited 
mob,  unlawfully  congregated  for  that  purpose  near  the  City 
Hall,  on  Saturday  evening,  June  2,  1855,  of  which  he,  the  said 
J.  B.,  was  found  to  be  one." 

148.  At  the  State  election  in  September,  1855,  the  vote 
for  the  Maine  Law  candidate  for  governor  was  not  only 
larger  than  any  governor  had  ever  before  received,  in 
the  history  of  the  State,  but  greater  by  thousands  than 
any  other  single  candidate.  But  a  plurality  of  votes  is 
requisite,  and,  by  a  vast  expenditure  of  money,  supplied 
from  New  York,  by  secret  influences,  and  an  unsleeping 
organization,  the  united  prohibition  party  were  defeated. 
The  opposition,  though  having  control  of  both  branches 

H8.    What  reverse  took  place  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE .  221 

of  the  Legislature  and  the  executive,  after  six  months' 
procrastination,  screwed  its  courage  up  to  "  low-water 
mark,"  and  proposed  a  substitute  for  the  world-fa 
mous  law,  but  a  substitute  so  stringent,  that  in  Britain 
it  would  be  deemed  no  better  than  its  predecessor !  Mr. 
Barnes  —  a  Whig  Senator  —  introduced  and  got  passed  a 
modifying  bill  which  involved  the  principle  of  the  Maine 
Law:  viz.,  "that  no  person  shall  keep  a  drinking-house 
or  tippling-shop  within  the  /State"  though  in  In's  accom 
panying  report  he  alleges  that  "  a  man  may  eat  and 
drink  what  he  likes,  and  that  to  interfere  with  his  doing 
so  is  to  go  beyond  the  true  province  of  government "  ! 
The  distilleries  were  again  at  work,  and  drunkenness 
and  crime  rapidly  increased ;  jailers  returned  to  their 
abandoned  occupations,  and  for  a  time  a  state  of  things 
prevailed  which  had  not  been  witnessed  in  Maine  for  six 
years.  This  reverse,  and  the  workings  of  the  modified 
system,  however,  only  furnished  them  with  another 
lesson  in  political  leadership,  and  with  fresh  weapons  of 
warfare ;  their  phalanx  returned  again  to  the  conflict 
with  a  firmer  tread,  to  realize  a  more  complete  and 
lasting  victory. 

The  members-elect  of  the  Legislature  of  1857  were 
almost  unanimously  Maine-law,  anti-slavery  men, — the 
rum  governor  was  defeated  by  an  adverse  majority  of 
20,000  votes.  The  legislators  of  April  were  indignantly 
rejected  in  September^  and  the  law  was  replaced  on  the 
statute  book,  with  still  more  stringent  clauses. 

149.  The  passing  of  the  Maine  Law  inspired  an  im 
mense  and  even  surprising  enthusiasm  in  other  States. 

What  was  the  result  of  the  election  of  1857  ? 


222  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Synods  and  conventions  rapidly  succeeded  each  other ; 
and  their  utterances  were  of  the  clearest  description. 
The  church  saw  and  declared  that  the  essential  thing  for 
its  success  was  the  removal  of  the  impediment  of  the 
traffic ;  the  citizen  perceived  that  this  measure  was  the 
measure  of  the  time,  needful  to  secure  the  fruits  of  every 
other.  In  Dr.  Cheever's  expressive  language,  "  Every 
interest  of  evil  would  go  down,  every  interest  of  good  would 
come  up"  They  looked  and  prayed  for  its  advent  as 
the  ancient  Egyptian  might  watch  and  wait  for  the  rising 
of  the  Nile,  whose  blessed  waters  should  convert  the 
parched  earth  into  the  fertile  field. 

On  the  21st  January,  1852,  in  the  Tr,emont  Temple, 
in  Boston,  the  citizens  assembled  for  the  presentation  of 
their  petition,  to  which  130,000  well-written  signatures 
were  attached,  including  GO, 000  voters.  The  Hon  A. 
Huntington,  of  Salern,  said  :  "  God  speed  the  enterprise  ! 
It  is  a  great  cause,  and  can  do  more  for  the  welfare  of 
the  people  than  anything  else."  It  was  *  borne  on  a 
double  sleigh  to  the  State  House,  over  a  rich  banner,  on 
which  was  inscribed,  "  THE  VOICE  OP  MASSACHUSETTS, 
— 130,000  PETITIONERS  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  MAINE  TEMPER 
ANCE  LAW."  Seven  days  later,  a  "  grand  demonstration  " 
was  made  at  Albany,  the  legislative  capital  of  "  the  Em 
pire  State."  The  artillery  company,  gorgeous  sleighs 
filled  with  officers,  guests,  and  ladies,  monster  rolls  of 
petitions,  with  300,000  signatures,  and  half  a  mile  of 
teetotalers  and  Sons  of  Temperance,  with  splendid  re 
galia,  badges,  banners,  and  bands  of  music,  assembled 


149.  What  was  the  effect  of  the  passage  of  the  Maine  Law  upon  other 
states  f    Give  Dr.  Cheever's  language.    What  demonstrations  were  made  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  223 

in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Delavan  House,  and  after 
passing  through  the  chief  streets  entered  by  permission 
the  Assembly  Chamber,  where  the  meeting  was  called  to 
order  by  the  veteran  Colonel  Camp,  and  the  claims  of 
the  law  enforced  by  Dr.  Marsh  and  others.  The  law  asked 
for  was,  "  a  law  to  prevent  pauperism  and  crime."  The 
petitions  were  referred  to  select  committees,  which  re 
ported  acceptable  bills,  and  assigned  reasons.  The 
Senate  reported  that  a  greater  number  of  petitioners 
had  united  in  the  request  than  had  ever  before  been  pre 
sented  in  behalf  of  any  measure. 

From  Maine  the  impulse  spread  to  Minnesota  ;  this  ter 
ritory  arriving  second  at  the  goal.  The  law  passed  both 
houses  of  the  Legislature  in  March,  1852,with  the  proviso 
that  it  be  submitted  to  the  people.  The  people  at  once 
gave  it  their  imprimatur,  and  it  became  the  law  of  the 
territory.  (Singular  to  sa}^  the  Supreme  Court  pro 
nounced  it  to  be  unconstitutional  for  its  having  been 
submitted  to  the  people  ;  but  the  Legislature  did  not  re 
peal  it.) 

In  Rhode  Island,  the  spring  election  returned  a  Legis 
lature  that  (March  7th)  enacted  the  law  in  the  Senate 
without  a  count,  and  in  the  Assembly  by  47  votes  against 
27  ;  being  the  third  in  this  race  of  social  redemption.  In 
Providence,  a  Maine  Law  mayor  was  returned  by  a 
majority  of  a  thousand  votes.  This  gentleman,  the  Hon. 
A.  C.  Barstow,  at  the  17th  anniversary  of  the  Temper 
ance  Union,  held  May  12th,  1853,  in  New  York,  said  : — 

"  He  was  proud  to  represent  Rhode  Island,  which,  first  of 
the  States,  elucidated  the  principles  of  religious  liberty. 

What  was  the  action  in  Jlinnesota  ?    In  Rhode  Island  ? 


224  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Though  not  the  first  in  this  cause,  he  could  claim  for  her  the 
honor  of  having,  if  not  the  genius  to  lead,  at  least  the  humility 
and  virtue  to  follow.  A  prohibitory  law  has  existed  for  six 
years,  under  which  20  out  of  32  towns  have  steadily  refused 
to  give  license." 


150.  The  struggle  continued  in  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts, —  a  State  destined,  however,  tobefourtJi 
in  the  race.  Petitions  poured  in.  180,000  petitioners 
prayed  for  the  law,  and  the  select  committee  to  whom 
the  matter  was  referred  gave  the  petitioners  a  hearinw, 
and  were  addressed  in  public  by  the  Hon.  Neal  Dow, 
the  Rev.  O.  E.  Othman,  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  Rev.  John 
Pierpont,  and  C.  W.  Goodrich.  The  committee  reported 
a  bill  containing  the  essential  features  of  the  law,  but 
stipulating  for  the  manufacture  and  use  of  alcoholic 
liquor  for  all  necessary  and  useful  purposes.  The  debates 
•were  remarkable  for  eliciting  brilliant  appeal  and  impor 
tant  facts.  Though  this  State  is,  perhaps,  the  best-edu 
cated  one  of  the  whole  federation,  and  possesses  great 
industry  and  wealth,  it  had  not,  ly  these  social  means, 
even  aided  by  the  most  remarkable  temperance  move 
ment  the  world  has  ever  seen,  succeeded  in  preserving 
the  Commonwealth  from  a  frightful  sura  of  intemperance, 
pauperism,  and  crime.  Above  $8,500.000  were  annually 
expended  on  the  retail  traffic,  which  involved  a  further 
cost  for  pauperism,  of  $2,000,000.  Nearly  a  thousand 
idiots  were  found  in  the  State,  the  children  of  the  intem 
perate. 


150.  How  many  petitioners  in  Massachusetts  for  the  law  ?    What  statistics 
arc  given  in  relation  to  the  traffic  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  225 

Committals  for  Criminal  Offences,  in  Massachusetts,  in  1851. 

To  Jail  for  crime, 6,6GG,  of  whom  2, 2(51  were  intemperate  =  34  per  cent. 

To  Houses  of  Correction,  3,175,       "        1,588  "  =50       " 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Pomeroy  ably  replied  to  several  object 
ors  : — 

"The  principle  had  always  existed  in  legislation;  it  was 
nothing  new  here.  King  the  changes  on  « human  liberty '  if 
you  intend  to  rope  and  confine  your  victims !  If  we  deprive 
any  man  by  this  bill  of  his  liberty  —  it  is  of  his  liberty  to  do 
wrong,  for  which  he  never  had  the  right." 

It  finally  passed  both  houses  by  large  majorities, 
and  was  signed  by  the  governor,  May  22,  1852. 

In  January,  1855,  the  Massachusetts  law  was  amended, 
a  section  relating  to  the  seizure  of  liquor  made  "  con 
stitutional,"  and  some  stringent  penalties  added,  in 
cluding  a  clause  making  the  seller  liable  to  be  sued  by 
the  wife  of  the  drinker,  when  damages  could  be  proved 
to  be  the  result  of  the  drinking. 

Four  victories  won  within  the  year,  and  still  the  tide 
of  battle  rolled  on.  The  cry  was  set  up,  notwithstand 
ing  twenty  j^ears'  agitation  for  no  license,  of  "  pre 
mature  action."  By  the  doubting,  the  season  for 
preparation  is  never  used,  as  that  of  success  never  comes. 
Certainly  we  would  not  wed 

"  Hash  Jiaste,  half-sister  to  delay." 

Neither  would   we   counsel   worse   marriage  with  the 

"  Procrastination,  —  the  thief  of  time." 


Has  a  man  a  right  to  do  wrong  ?    Why  not  ?    How  many  victories  wero 
won  this  year  ?    How  was  the  law  amended  ? 

15 


226  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Hear  the  instructive  answer  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Marsh, 
on  behalf  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  :  — 

"Vast  multitudes  said  they  were  prepared  for  it;  and  what 
would  another  generation  be  without  it?  What  were  we  fast 
becoming  under  our  present  license  laws,  with  the  waves  of 
a  foreign  population  rolling  in  upon  us?  Nothing  better,  but 
continually  worse.  They  wish  to  impose  no  law  upon  the  peo 
ple  by  force ;  but  when  a  people  demand  a  law  for  protection 
against  the  traffic,  they  do  require  that  it  shall  not  be  holden 
from  them,  because  that,  by  the  craft  to  be  destroyed,  distillers, 
brewers,  and  venders  have  their  wealth.  In  demanding  pro 
tection,  they  relax  no  effort  of  moral  suasion.  The  vast  influx 
of  a  foreign  population;  their  deep  sensuality;  their  readiness 
to  engage,  in  all  towns  and  cities,  in  the  liquor  trade ;  the  ease 
with  which  they  procure  a  license,  and  the  corrupting  influence 
of  their  liquor  shops,  are  viewed  with  much  anxiety  by  all  who 
love  their  country.  In  five  years,  1,041,238  immigrants  arrived 
in  New  York  alone,  —  persons  who  knew  nothing  of  our  habits, 
—  who  look  from  afar  upon  this  as  the  land  of  license  [and 
these,  at  least,  are  prepared]  —  prepared  to  be  the  pillars  of 
this  Temple  of  the  Demon  of  Blood.  As  one  of  the  results, 
notwithstanding  millions  of  teetotalers,  we  are  vast  consumers 
of  intoxicating  drinks,  —  an  average  of  six  gallons  a  head  of  ale 
and  spirits  to  all  our  population  above  childhood !  For  the 
year  ending  June,  1850,  there  were  27,000  criminals!  On  the 
day  of  the  completion  of  the  census,  the  whole  number  in 
prison  was  6,702,  of  whom  2,460  were  foreign.  Of  the  paupers 
fed  by  us,  68,538  were  of  foreign  birth;  only  66,434  Ameri 
cans."* 

Gallant  Vermont,  the  "  Green  Mountain  State,"  in  De- 

*  In  Philadelphia,  out  of  5,000  tenants  of  the  almshouse  in  1851,  2,709  were 
drunken  men,  and  897  drunkemvomen.  Total  pauper-recruits  FKOM  HOUSES 
APPOINTED  TO  REGULATE  TiiK  TRAFFIC  in  one  single  city,  3,606.  In 
Albany,  out  of  775  liquor  dealers,  not  100  are  native  Americans. 

What  was  the  fifth  state  ?    When  did  Vermont  adopt  the  law  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  227 

cember,  1852,  came  fifth  in  the  realization  of  this  pro- 
hibito-protective  law,  —  the  Legislature  submitting  the 
time  of  its  action  to  the  decision  of  the  people.  On  the 
5th  January,  at  Ruthland,  in  a  State  convention,  the 
people  expressed  their  viva  voce  satisfaction  in  the  law 
with  immense  enthusiasm,  and  on  the  Cth  February, 
1853,  affirmed  the  law  by  their  votes. 

Michigan  came  sixth;  and  on  the  law  being  submitted 
to  the  people  as  to  the  time  of  its  operation,  they  voted, 
by  overwhelming  majorities,  for  its  immediate  action. 
The  liquor  party,  of  course,  made  what  resistance  they 
could,  —  feed  the  lawyers,  bribed  the  legislators,  and  ap 
pealed  to  the  judges.  Nevertheless,  justice  was  finally 
done.  In  1856,  seven  out  of  the  eight  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  affirmed  the  "constitutionality"  of  the 
law. 

151.  On  the  10th  March,  1853,  in  answer  to  attempts 
made  by  the  traffic  to  misrepresent  the  law,  the  people 
of  Massachusetts  held  the  largest  temperance  convention 
which  had  ever  assembled  in  Boston,  and  passed  some 
expressive  resolutions  of  approval  without  a  single 
dissentient.  One  was,  "  that  this  law  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  total  abstinence  pledge  of  a  whole  State,  —  [in  re 
gard  to  the  sale  and  purchase],  —  and  that  it  is  a  duty  to 
God  and  humanity,  for  the  State,  as  for  every  individual, 
to  keep  the  pledge  unbroken ;  and  we  believe  in  the 
manifest  destiny  of  this  law  to  spread,  ultimately,  with 
the  spread  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race." 

In  some  of  the  larger  commercial  towns,  owing  to  that 


Which  came  the  sixth  ?    "What  was  the  action  of  the  people  ? 
131.  "\VUatre3olutionswercatloptediu  Massachusetts? 


228  TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE . 


foreign  influence  and  "  trade  connection"  which  sustained 
the  prohibited  slave-trade,  the  law  was  not  enforced. 
In  Boston,  for  example,  things  went  on  much  as  before  ; 
though  a  strong  protest  against  the  neglect  was  drawn 
up  by  a  large  minority  of  the  council.  In  fact,  just 
prior  to  the  passing  of  the  law,  above  700  licenses  were 
granted  for  a  year  by  the  city  government.  Citizens  in 
the  interior  had  only  to  visit  Boston,  in  order  to  dis 
cover  the  merits  of  the  law  by  the  logic  of  contrast. 

Thirteen  years  later,  we  find  a  vast  improvement,  the 
State  having  now  got  its  own  constabulary,  wholly  in 
dependent  of  local  influences.  In  1867,  a  license  law 
was  passed .  Men  of  the  most  opposite  creeds  and  parties 
coalesced  here. 

The  beautiful  State  of  Ohio  had  been  strongly  moved 
by  the  prohibitory  question  ;  and  amongst  the  agitators 
we  may  name  General  Gary,  —  a  man  of  eloquence  and 
power;  a  lawyer  by  profession,  but,  by  good  fortune, 
able  to  devote  his  talents  and  energy  to  a  "  cause  "  which 
involves  the  wholesale  prevention  of  broils  and  disputes, 
—  the  rectification  of  the  wrongs  of  a  nation.  Petitions, 
with  250,000  signatures,  were  presented  to  the  Legisla 
ture  of  1852-3.  Ohio  subsequently  suppressed  the  sale 
for  use  on  the  premises. 

In  Wisconsin,  this  year  (1853),  the  Maine  Law  was 
lost  by  a  single  vote  ;  while  Indiana  passed  a  law  bor 
dering  upon  it  in  stringency.  The  old  law  in  Wisconsin 
made  the  vender  responsible  for  damages ;  while,  by 
another  law  in  Iowa,  every  dram-shop  is  declared  a 
nuisance,  which  may  at  once  be  broken  up  and  exter- 

What  action  did  Ohio  take  ?    Wisconsin  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  229 

minatcd.  But  these  enactments  all  spared  the  liquor; 
and  hence  not  one  of  them  has  answered  its  end,  or 
superseded  the  necessity  of  a  Maine  Law.  All  other 
laws  allow  the  vender  to  transplant  his  machinery  and 
material  of  mischief,  which  is  the  same  folly  as  if  a 
victorious  general  should  liberate  his  prisoners  as  fast 
as  they  were  made,  —  a  course  that,  in  recruiting  the 
forces  of  the  enemy,  would  speedily  put  an  end  to  his 
own  victories. 

152.  In  March,  1854,  a  prohibitory  law  passed  the 
New  York  Legislature  with  large  majorities,  but  was 
unexpectedly  vetoed  by  Governor  Seymour.  This  created 
great  excitement,  and  lost  him  his  office  at  the  fall  elec 
tion,  Myron  H.  Clark  being  triumphantly  carried  by  the 
temperance  party.  In  various  States  sharp  remedies 
were  attempted  for  abating  the  evils  of  the  traffic.  In 
Greensboro',  Alabama,  the  liquor  license  was  raised  to 
$1,000  ;  in  Marion,  Alabama,  to  $3,000.  In  Pennsylvania, 
the  question  was  submitted  to  the  people,  and  lost  only 
by  a  majority  of  3,000  votes  against,  in  a  poll  of  nearly 
300,000. 

After  a  reign  of  two  years  in  Old  Connecticut,  the 
new  license  system  was  abolished;  and  on  the  16th 
June,  1864,  a  Maine  Law  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  148  to 
61  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  13  to  1 
in  the  Senate.  The  law  was  fixed  to  go  into  operation 
on  the  1st  of  August,  and  was  sure  to  be  executed,  for 
at  the  head  of  the  State  was  Governor  Button,  a  good 
lawyer  and  stanch  temperance  .man.  Thus  a  single 


152.  When  was  the  prohibitory  law  passed  in  New  York  ?    What  was  the 
license  foe  in  some  States  ?    Give  the  history  of  the  law  in  Connecticut. 


230  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

year  satisfied  the  people  that  the  legalized  sale  of  strong 
drink  is  an  evil  that  cannot  be  borne.  The  State  election 
on  the  3d  clay  of  November,  1868,  resulted  in  the 
triumph  of  prohibition.  Of  the  220  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  above  160  were  prohibitionists. 
So  that  party  can  carry  two  votes  to  their  opponents'  one 
in  the  House,  and  three  to  one  in  the  Senate.  Doubtless 
the  license  law  will  be  repealed,  and  the  old  prohibitory 
law  restored. 

Connecticut  became  the  seventJi  State,  which  had 
adopted  a  prohibitory  law,  —  the  sixth  which  had  been 
fired  to  emulate  the  wisdom  of  Maine  in  three  years. 

The  governor,  in  a  letter  dated  New  Haven,  October 
20,  1854, says :  — 

«'  The  law  has  been  thoroughly  executed  with  much  less  diffi 
culty  and  opposition  than  was  anticipated.  In  no  instance  has 
a  seizure  produced  any  general  excitement.  Resistance  to  the 
law  would  be  unpopular,  and  it  has  been  found  in  « vain '  to  set 
it  at  defiance.  The  principal  obstacle  in  the  way  of  complete 
success  consists  in  the  importation  of  liquors  from  the  city  of 
New  York  into  this  State,  in  casks  and  demijohns,  professedly 
for  private  use." 

Thus  we  again  see  that  the  drawbacks  arise,  not  from 
too  much,  but  too  little  law,  as  regards  its  extension. 
The  "  New  Haven  Advocate  "  says  :  — 

"  From  all  parts  of  the  State  the  tidings  continue  to  come 
to  us  of  the  excellent  worJdngs  of  the  Connecticut  liquor  law. 
The  diminution  of  intemperance,  the  reduction  of  crime  and 
pauperism,  the  better  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  etc.,  are  the 
theme  of  rejoicing  from  every  quarter.  Men  who  voted  against 
the  law,  and  who  have  heretofore  been  its  bitter  opponents, 
are  now  its  firm  friends." 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  231 

On  the  8th  February,  1855,  Indiana  placed  herself 
eighth  in  the  race  of  prohibition,  by  overwhelming 
majorities,  appointing  the  law  to  commence  from  the  12th 
June.  The  decision  was  welcomed  in  the  capital,  In 
dianapolis,  by  rounds  of  artillery,  the  ringing  of  bells 
from  every  steeple  in  the  city,  and  other  tokens  of  public 
joy.  Indiana  has  had  the  full  operation  of  the  law  ar 
rested,  through  the  indecision  and  imbecility  of  her 
courts. 

On  the  16th  of  the  same  month,  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois  prohibited,  with  Maine  Law  sanctions,  all  tip- 
pling-houses,  but  allowed  the  manufacture  of  cider  and 
wine,  and  their  sale  in  not  less  than  five  gallons.  The 
people,  however,  vetoed  the  measure. 

On  the  20th  of  February,  1855,  little  Delaware  (by  a 
vote  of  11  to  10  in  the  House)  promptly  passed  a  pro 
tective  law,  the  ninth  star  in  the  banner  of  prohibition  : 
the  Dirigo  to  the  tardy  South. 

In  July,  1856,  Mr.  T.  B.  Coursey,  in  announcing  that 
the  judges  had  unanimously  sustained  the  law,  says  :  — 

"  Our  law,  which  has  not  been  more  than  half  executed,  has 
greatly  diminished  drunkenness,  and  almost  entirely  stopped  the 
sale." 

153.  On  the  12th  April,  1855,  completing  protection 
to  the  four  great  free  States  of  the  West,  came  Iowa. 
Though  tenth  in  the  race  of  prohibition,  Iowa  was  one 
of  the  first  to  declare  the  traffic  a  nuisance.  The  con 
stitutionality  of  the  law  has  been  sustained  by  the 


When  did  Indiana  adopt  the  law?    What  reception  did  it  meet  with? 
What  law  was  adopted  in  Illinois  ?    What  and  when  in  Delaware  ? 


232  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

courts.  It  has  been  vigorously  enforced  in  Keokuk. 
Mr.  Kinbourne,  when  mayor,  said  there  was  not  a  phy 
sician,  lawyer,  or  merchant,  who  partook  of  intoxicating 
beverages. 

North  Carolina,  in  February,  passed  a  prohibitory 
measure  through  the  House  by  a  vote  of  11  to  10.  Re 
strictive  measures  were  adopted  in  Texas  and  Missis 
sippi,  and  in  other  States  the  initial  agitation  was  com 
menced  for  the  law  of  Maine.  On  the  10th  March, 
1855,  the  Assembly  of  Wisconsin  passed  the  law  by  a 
vote  of  42  to  23  ;  the  Senate  concurred,  but  the  governor 
vetoed  it.  The  political  party  which  had  been  domi 
nant  for  forty  years  in  New  Hampshire  was  this  month 
totall}7"  annihilated  for  its  opposition  to  the  law,  good 
men  of  all  parties  (including  some  of  its  own)  uniting  in 
the  defeat. 

Eleventh  in  the  race  was  the  territory  of  Nebraska, 
which,  about  this  period,  passed  a  Maine  Law,  fearing 
lest  the  tipplers  and  traffickers  of  Iowa  would  be  in 
duced  to  cross  the  line,  and  overrun  their  territoiy. 

154.  Next,  not  least,  the  four  years'  labor  of  the 
Maine  Law  party  in  the  Empire  State  was  now  to  be 
consummated.  In  April,  1855,  a  prohibitory  bill  (some 
what  marred  from  the  original  model)  passed  the  Senate 
by  21  votes  to  11,  and  the  lower  house  by  80  to  45  ;  and 
on  April  7th  received  the  signature  of  the  Hon.  Myron 
II.  Clark,  the  governor.  New  York  State,  therefore, 
arrived  twelfth  at  the  goal.  An  idea  may  be  formed  of 


153.  What  peculiarity  was  there  about  the  Iowa  law  ?    What  other  States 
followed  ? 

154.  When  was  the  law  adopted  In  the  Empire  State  ?    How  many  States 
did  this  make  which  had  adopted  it  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  233 

the  inveteracy  of  the  opposition,  from  the  fact  that  on 
the  day  of  the  bill  passing  the  Assembly,  points  of  order 
were  called  to  for  nearly  three  hours  in  succession,  in 
order  to  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  House ;  motions 
being  made  to  commit  to  select  committees,  committees 
of  conference,  and  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  House. 
When  the  vote  passed,  the  last  move  was  a  motion  to 
"  reconsider  the  vote,"  which  was  lost  by  31  to  84.  The 
day  selected  for  the  law  coming  into  effect  was  the  4th 
of  July,  —  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  they  de 
clared  their  emancipation  from  foreign  rule,  —  a  day 
than  which  none  could  be  better  for  inaugurating  a  legal 
campaign  against  the  tyranny  of  the  traffic.* 

155.  On  the  13th  of  August,  1855,  the  last  of  the 
New  England  States,  New  Hampshire,  placed  herself 
tJiirteenth  in  the  race  of  prohibition.  This  was  a  crown 
ing  victory,  which  tended  at  once  to  sustain  the  law  in 
the  adjoining  States,  and  to  temper  the  reverse  of  the 
following  year,  to  which  we  shall  presently  allude.  Gov 
ernor  Metcalf,  elected  for  a  second  time,  in  his  annual 
message  to  the  Legislature,  1856,  said  that 

"  The  act  is  having  a  salutary  effect.  It  is  more  fully  regarded 
and  practically  sustained  than  any  license  law  we  ever  had  in 

*  In  England,  the  event  was  celebrated  on  that  day  by  the  "  Grand  Alli 
ance  "  Fete  in  the  beautiful  grounds  of  Elvaston  Castle,  near  Derby,  a  seat 
of  the  Vice-President,  the  IJight  Honorable  the  Earl  of  Harrington,  on 
•which  occasion  two  fine  young  trees  (an  American  and  an  English  species) 
•were  planted  in  the  presence  of  10,000  persons,  called  the  "  Alliance  Oaks, " 
and  the  record  of  the  event  literally  graved  upon  the  rock  forever.  The 
Hon.  NealDow,  Dr.  Lees,  and  others  were  present  on  the  occasion. 


155.  What  was  the  "crowning  victory"?    Give  the  testimony  of  Gov, 
Metcalf. 


234  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

the  State.  In  many  towns  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  is 
wholly  abandoned,  and  in  others  liquor  is  sold  only  as  other 
penal  offences  are  committed,  in  secret." 

The  Rev.  E.  AY.  Jackson,  writing  in  October,  1856, 

says :  — 

"  The  law  works  like  a  charm.  It  will  be  an  easy  matter  to 
close  up  the  last  grog-shop  in  the  State." 

There  was  also  a  prohibitory  law  in  force  in  one  of 
the  States  south  of  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  line."  The 
Gallatin  "Argus"  contains  the  copy  of  "  An  act  to  prohib 
it  the  sale  and  gratuitous  distribution  of  liquors  within 
Police  District  No.  1,  of  the  County  of  Copiah,"  Missis 
sippi.  No  more  licenses  shall  be  granted,  and  only  drug 
gists  and  apothecaries  may  sell,  "  for  strictly  medicinal 
purposes."  The  penalty  for  the  first  violation  of  the 
act  is  &100  fine,  and  ten  days  in  the  county  jail ;  second 
offence,  $200,  and  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  not 
exceeding  thirty  days.  This  prohibitory  laio  was  ap 
proved  on  the  sixth  of  March,  and  took  effect  on  the  first 
day  of  May,  1856. 

156.  It  is  important  to  understand  that  the  legisla 
tive  opponents  of  the  Maine  Law  never  propose  revert 
ing  to  the  old  S37stem  of  irresponsibility..  The  "New 
York  Herald,"  a  widely  circulated  paper,  thus  records  a 
debate  in  1853  :  — 

"  The  temperance  excitement  has  nearly  reached  its  zenith. 
The  friends  and  opponents  of  the  Maine  liquor  law  have  each 


What  was  the  testimony  of  Eev.  Mr.  Jackson?    Give  the  provisions  of 
the  law  adopted  by  Mississippi. 
156.  What  was  the  position  of  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  in  1853?    What 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  235 

presented  their  reports.  Mr.  Dewey  commenced  reading  the 
report,  and  the  manner  of  his  reading,  and  the  classical  lan 
guage  in  which  the  report  is  couched,  very  soon  attracted  the 
closest  attention  of  every  member  of  the  House,  and  the  whole 
immense  auditory.  Messrs.  Dewey  and  Odell  propose  to  regu 
late  the  sale  of  liquor  by  electing  a  Board  of  Excise,  with 
power  to  issue  licenses ;  retailers  in  towns  and  villages  con 
taining  over  one  thousand  voters  shall  pay  for  license  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  dollars  ;  in  places  containing  two  thousand  and 
upwards,  two  hundred  dollars,  — to  sell  nothing  but  liquor,  and 
that  to  adults  only  —  in  taverns;  not  to  be  sold  to  amj  citizens, 
but  to  travellers  alone,  —  retailers  to  be  subject  to  pay  all  dama 
ges  which  may  occur  from  intoxicated  persons,  —and  punish 
ment  to  be  inflicted  for  selling  to  minors."  * 

It  is  clear,  that  these  penalties,  if  inflicted,  would  ruin 
the  business.  After  the  passing  of  the  law  in  New  York 
in  1856,  the  rum  party  are  known  to  have  paid  $10,000  to 
two  leading  journals  for  space  to  oppose  the  law,  and 
lawyers  were  employed  to  carry  liquor  cases  to  the  minor 
courts.  When  the  verdict  was  in  favor  of  the  law,  the 
case  was  moved  to  the  "  Court  of  Appeals."  In  all  locali 
ties  where  such  appeals  were  made,  the  law  virtually 
ceased.  Yet,  such  was  the  public  opinion  in  its  favor  — 
such  the  respect  of  the  genuine  American  population  for 
"  the  States'  collected  will "  —  that  over  two-thirds  of  the 
vast  area  of  New  York  State  the  law  was  implicitly 

*  Gov  Pollock,  in  his  message  to  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  1856, 
shows  that  no  one  believes  in  the  old  system.  "  That  the  laws  (previously) 
in  existence  were  imperfect,  and  failed  to  check  or  control  the  evils  ot  intem 
perance,  is  a  proposition  too  plain  to  be  doubted." 


would  be  the  result  of  the  penalties  if  inflicted  ?    Was  the  law  obeyed  in  the 
State  ?    How  much  of  the  State  ? 


236  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

obeyed  and  honored.*  What  the  state  of  things  was  in 
the  fall  of  1855,  the  journals  of  the  clay  witness.  The 
"  New  York  Reformer"  says  :  — 

"  This  law  has  done  a  wonderful  deal  of  good  since  it  went 
into  effect,  notwithstanding  the  Herculean  efforts  of  its  foes 
to  render  nugatory  its  beneficent  provisions.  We  advocate  a 
*  fusion'  of  the  virtuous  and  order-loving  of  all  parties  to  sus 
tain  it.  Unprincipled  political  leaders  may  denounce  the  « fanat 
icism'  that  labors  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  humanity, 
and  will  seek  by  every  means  to  chain  the  wheels  of  reform  to 
the  jw#-gernaut  of  conservatism  —  in  vain !  " 

The  "  Saratoga  Helper  "  says  :  — 

"It  is  true  the  law  has  not  been  properly  enforced,  but 
when,  before,  were  there  ever  such  superhuman  efforts  made  to 
oppose  and  break  down  the  laic?  When,  before,  has  a  class 
banded  together,  raised  large  sums  of  money,  and  openly  defied 
the  legal  authorities  ?  The  resistance  does  not  come  from  the 
people,  —it  is  the  desperate  struggle  of  a  bad  business  to  main 
tain  itself  in  the  public  regard.  Against  this  bitter,  unrelent 
ing  opposition,  the  friends  of  right  have  had  to  oppose  the 
doubtful  bulwark  of  an  untried  law;  have  had  to  feel  their  way 
carefully  in  administering  it;  and  they  are  suffering  all  the  in 
convenience  of  the  delay  of  the  courts." 

On  the  IGth  January,  1856,  Governor  Clark,  in  his 

*  It  is  a  significant  incident,  showing  how  the  most  respectable  classes 
regard  the  sale  of  spirits  for  tippling  purposes  as  a  social  nuisance,  that 
when  bands  of  women  in  the  West,  and  even  in  Cattaraugus  county,  New 
York,  — not  drunken,  noisy  women,  such  as  led  the  Exeter  bread  riot,  but 
quiet,  well  dressed,  persistent  ladies,— -have  gone  to  the  grog-shop.0,  broken 
the  kegs  and  demijohns,  and  poured  out  the  liquor,  a  sacrifice  to  the  house 
hold  gods,  juries  have,  upon  prosecution,  invariably  acquitted. 


What  testimony  did  Gov.  Clark  give  in  relation  to  the  law  f 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  237 

message  to   the  Legislature  at  Albany,  thus   manfully 
referred  to  the  law  :  — 

"Notwithstanding  it  has  been  subjected  to  an  opposition 
more  persistent,  unscrupulous,  and  defiant  than  is  often  incurred 
by  an  act  of  legislation,  —  and  though  legal  and  magisterial  in 
fluence,  often  acting  unofficially  and  extra-judicially,  have  com 
bined  to  render  it  inoperative,  to  forestall  the  decision  of  the 
courts,  wrest  the  statute  from  its  obvious  meaning,  and  create 
a  general  distrust  in,  if  not  hostility  to,  all  legislative  restric 
tions  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  —  it  has  still,  outside 
of  our  large  cities,  been  generally  obeyed.  The  influence  is  visi 
ble  in  a  marked  diminution  of  the  evils  it  sought  to  remedy." 

The  mayor  of  Albany  intimated  to  his  police,  that  if 
they  meddled  with  the  law  at  all  they  should  be  dis 
missed !  The  Recorder  of  New  York  told  the  Grand 
Jury  not  to  entertain  any  complaints  !  Yet  the  parties 
who  initiate  such  proceedings  publish  to  the  world  the 
failure  of  a  law  which  they  never  tried  !  —  wishing  the 
people  to  forget  that  a  law  can  no  more  work  itself  than 
can  a  physician's  recipe.  That  some  members  of  a 
family  prevent  the  sick  member  from  taking  the  physic 
is  surely  very  absurd  as  an  argument  against  the  wisdom 
of  the  prescription ! 

157.  At  last  came  the  anxiously  looked-for  decision  of 
the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals  at  Albany.  This  court 
is  composed  of  four  judges  elected  to  it,  and  of  four 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  judges  on  this  oc 
casion  were,  Denio,  Alexander  S.  Johnson,  Comstock, 
and  Selden.  The  current  justices  were,  Mitchell  of 


157.  How  is  the  Court  of  Appeals  composed?    Who  were  the  judges? 
What  was  their  duty  ? 


238  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

the  first  district ;  Wright  of  the  third  ;  Hubbard  of  the 
fifth  ;  and  Thomas  A.  Johnson  of  the  fourth.  The  cases 
were  entitled  "People  vs.  Wynchamer,"  and  "People 
vs.  Toynbee." 

No  doubt  the  New  York  act  had  several  legal  flaws 
in  it ;  but  its  legislative  OBJECT  and  PRINCIPLE  was  ad 
mitted  to  be  constitutional,  only  requiring  to  be  amended 
in  its  expression  and  process. 

The  duty  of  the  judges  was  to  carry  out  the  obvious 
intentions  of  the  law,  under  such  limitations  of  its  gener 
ality  as  constitutional  rights  might  require  and  fix.* 
The  only  two  points  of  importance,  then,  are  these  :  — 

(a)  Can  the  Legislature  "  constitutionally"  decree  that 
property  on  hand,  at  a  given  time,  is  contraband  when 
used  in  a  given  way? 

(b)  Did  the  New  York  Act   so    "  constitutionally " 
decree  liquor  on  hand  to  be  contraband  for  certain  uses  ? 

To  the  first  (a)  the  court  UNANIMOUSLY  answers,  "  It 
is  competent."  To  the  second  (b)  some  of  the  judges 
reply,  "The  act  does  not  express  itself  with  sufficient 
specificness  and  discrimination." 

One  thing,  then,  is  very  certain :   that  the  law  is  not 

*  So  T.  A.  Johnson,  for  the  law,  expressly  argued :  "  If  the  language  is 
susceptible  of  interpretation  in  harmony  with  the  declared  object  of  an  enact 
ment,  courts  are  bound  to  give  it  that  interpretation.  They  can  only  give 
a  construction  which  will  convict  the  legislator  of  absurdity  or  folly,  in  cases 
where  the  language  employed  is  so  clear  as  to  leave  no  alternative."  We 
may  add,  that  living  judges  are  required  chiefly  for  this  purpose,  —  to  make 
specific  applications  of  the  vague  or  broad  principles  of  the  law,  because  the 
law  cannot  alter  or  speak  for  itself.  Some  of  these  judges,  following  the 
reverse  course,  ignored  a  law  because  it  cannot  discriminate  for  itself. 


State  the  only  two  points  of  importance.  What  did  the  Court  answer  to 
the  first  ?  What  answer  to  the  second  ?  Why  did  they  say  the  law  was  un 
constitutional  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  239 

unconstitutional  because  it  is  a  Maine  Law,  or  because  it 
forbids  the  sale  of  liquor  (on  hand,  or  otherwise  forcer- 
tain  purposes),  but  BECAUSE  IT  DOES  NOT  DO  THIS  WITH 
SUFFICIENT  DISTINCTNESS  AND  PRECISION.  Let  the  friends 
of  prohibition,  then,  marshal  their  forces  anew,  and 
march  to  the  final  victory  in  the  old  heroic  spirit.  They 
have  succeeded  in  getting  such  a  law  ;  let  them  now  turn 
their  attention  to  perfecting  its  form  and  machinery, 
and  to  making  the  man  that  shall  execute  the  meas 
ure.* 


*  Few  persons,  during  the  past  two  years,  had  labored  more  zealously  for 
prohibition  than  the  late  B.  F.  Harwood,  the  beloved  clerk  of  this  same  "  Court 
of  Appeals."  He  had  often  declared  that  the  prohibitory  law  was  his  only 
chance  of  escape  from  that  fatal  propensity  which  has  strown  his  profession 
with  so  many  wrecks.  When  the  time  came  for  the  assembling  of  the  deci 
sive  tribunal,  he  visited  Judge  Comstock,  and  thus  besought  him  to  save  the 
law :  — 

"Judge  Comstock,  you  know  that  I  am  addicted  to  drinking;  but  you  do 
not  know  — no  living  person  knows  — how  I  have  struggled  to  break  off  this 
habit!  Sometimes  I  have  succeeded  for  a  while,  and  then  these  accursed 
liquor-bars,  like  so  many  man-traps,  have  effected  my  fall.  For  this  reason, 
I  have  labored  for  the  prohibitory  law  at  every  stage.  Great  numbers  of 
our  Supreme  Court  judges,  and  others  of  our  most  learned  and  able  jurists, 
have  endorsed  its  constitutionality.  For  myself,  I  have  no  more  doubt  of 
its  constitutionality  than  I  have  that  I  am  now  alive.  So  great  and  benefi 
cent  a  measure  should  not  be  balked  upon  the  mere  technicalities  of  our 
profession.  My  last  hope,  Judge  Comstock,  is  with  you.  Sustain  the  law 
for  which  I  have  labored,  and  my  energy  will  be  redoubled.  Close  the  liquor- 
bars,  even  the  respectable  liquor-bars,  and  I  shall  be  saved.  Your  decision 
is  icith  me  a  matter  of  life  and  death ! " 

On  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  the  25th  March,  amidst  the  most  painful 
suspense,  the  eight  judges  took  their  seats.  The  vote  of  five  of  their  num 
ber  was  handed  to  the  clerk  to  be  entered :  We  declare  the  law  to  be 
void.  How  did  Mr.  Harwood  fed  at  that  terrible  moment  ?  As  a  man  feels 
who  has  to  write  his  own  death-warrant.  Then  the  last  hope  of  a  noble 
heart  gave  way.  During  the  week  he  fell  before  temptation  and  despair 
combined.  On  Saturday  night  he  raved;  four  men  could  not  hold  the  man 
who  was  so  gentle  when  himself  that  a  little  child  might  lead  him.  By  eight 
o'clock  on  the  Sabbath  morning  the  liquor-traffic  had  achieved  one  of  its 
signal  victories,  and  the  city  was  startled  at  this  swift  and  awful  commen 
tary  upon  the  decision  of  Tuesday. 


240  TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE. 

158.  Let  us  now  indicate,  by  some  facts  and  figures, 
and  by  official,  political,  and  professional  testimonies, 
beginning  with  New  York  State,  what  have  been  the 
social  results  of  an  imperfect,  because  initial  and  im 
peded,  prohibitory  law. 

We  shall  not,  of  course,  in  estimating  crime  lessened 
by  the  law,  take  account  of  the  cases  of  violation  of  the 
law  itself,  —  which  are  for  acts  that,  in  their  relation  to 
the  public,  were  precisely  the  same  before  they  were  treated 
as  offences  as  now,  only  vastly  more  numerous  and  mis 
chievous.  Sometimes,  even,  we  shall  not  notice  "  drunk 
enness,"  —  first,  because  we  here  treat  of  drunkenness, 
not  so  much  on  its  own  account,  as  that  to  which  it  leads  ; 
and  second,  because,  in  very  many  places,  before  the 
law  was  passed,  simple  drunkenness  was  left  unheeded 
by  the  police,  but  after  the  law  was  narrowly  watched 
and  instantly  pounced  upon.  In  both  cases,  the  acts  of 
offence  might  be  greatly  diminished,  while  the  committals 
were  somewhat  enlarged.* 

The  returns  in  the  following  table,  illustrating  the 
partial  operation  of  the  New  York  law,  are,  for  the 
same  period,  save  Utica,  which  is  but  for  four  months 

*  Some  one  quoted  Judge  II.  W.  Bishop,  to  prove  that  the  law  made  bad 
worse.  "  Criminal  business  has  very  largely  increased  under  the  new  law." 
Was  this  true?  Quite  true  —  for  one  side  of  truth.  Turning  to  his  charge, 
\ve  find  he  goes  on  to  explain.  "  I  had,  in  my  last  term  in  the  County  of 
Middlesex,  no  fewer  than  104  indictments,  under  the  new  law.  I  say,  with- 
out  fear  of  contradiction,  that  nine-tenths  of  all  crimes  of  personal  violence 
are  committed  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  and  if  the  source  of  the  evil  is 
dried  up  by  the  new  law,  judges  by  and  by  will  have  little  criminal  business 
to  attend  to." 


158.  What  is  now  to  be  indicated  ?    How  is  crime  here  estimated  ?    Hot 
6  drunkenness  here  treated  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 


241 


instead  of  six,  namely,  from  the  6th  of  July  to  the  31st 
of  December  inclusive  of  each  year :  — 


Decrease  in 

Committals  for  offences  exclud 

1854. 

1855. 

favor  of  the 

ing  drunkenness. 

law. 

Cayuga  County  Jail      .    .    . 

85 

59 

26 

Onondaga       "             ... 

138 

1C3 

35 

Seneca            "             ... 

• 
75 

28 

47 

Ontario           "             ... 

89 

45 

44 

Albany  Watch  House  .    .    . 

1,974 

1,278 

696 

Syracuse  (Police  Record)  .    . 

778 

515 

203 

Auburn         "          "    .    .    . 

104 

50 

54 

Rochester    "          "... 

1,552 

740 

812 

Utica            "          "... 

105 

80 

85 

4,900 

2,898 

2,062 

R.  R.  Brown,  hotel-keeper  at  Carthage,  New  York, 
says  that  by  abolishing  the  liquor-bar  he  is  brought  in  con 
tact  with  a  better  class  of  customers,  and  all  the  duties  and 
associations  of  his  business  are  improved  to  a  degree  which 
affords  him  a  fourfold  compensation  for  the  "unprofit 
able  profits"  which  arose  from  vending  "the  drink  of 
the  drunkards." 

New  York  State  next  illustrates  the  power  of  prohibi 
tion  by  its  absence.  There  was  an  alarming  increase  of 


What  was  the  testimony  of  the  hotel-keeper  at  Carthage? 
10 


242  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

crime  both  in  ciiy  and  country.  The  Albany  "  Morning 
Times"  of  the  IGth  October,  185G  —  an  anti  Maine  Law 
paper  —  said  :  — 

"  The  Penitentiary  is  filling  up.  The  inmates  amount  to  270. 
Of  this  number,  180  are  women.  The  number  of  prisoners  is 
greater  thau  it  has  been  during  the  past  eighteen  months."* 

159.  On  the  27th  August,  1S33,  the  Hon.  Neal  Dow 
published  the  following  :  — 

"At  the  time  of  the  enactment  of  the  law,  rum-selling  was 
carried  on  openly,  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  In  Portland  there 
were  between  three  and  four  hundred  rum-shops,  and  immedi 
ately  after  the  enactment  of  the  law  not  one.  The  wholesale 
trade  in  liquors  was  at  once  annihilated.  In  Portland,  large 
numbers  of  men  were  reformed.  Temptations  to  intemperance 
were  in  a  great  measure  removed  out  of  the  path  of  the  young 
and  inexperienced. 

"At  the  end  of  the  municipal  year,  1851-2,  an  official  report 
to  the  City  Council  was  ordered  to  be  printed  and  distributed ; 
its  statements  were  not  at  the  time,  nor  have  they  since  been, 
denied. 


*  We  record  one  contrary  sample,  taken  from  the  "  Albany  Atlas,"  Aug. 
1853 :  — 

"PRACTICAL  OPERATION  OF  THE  MAINE  LAW.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  a  letter  received  by  a  commercial  house  in  this  city,  from  a 
large  distillery  and  rectifying  establishment  in  New  York,  which  deals 
largely  with  the  Eastern  States  :  *  The  fact  is,  that  since  the  passing  of  the 
Maine  Law  we  find  it  difficult  to  supply  our  orders ;  and  should  our  o\vu 
Legislature  pass  a  similar  law  at  their  next  session  we  shall  take  measures  to 
enlarge  our  tcorlcs  immediately.' " 

Why,  then,  did  these  people  want  the  law  repealed? 


What  statement  is  made  in  relation  to  the  Albany  Penitentiary  ? 

159.  What  was  the  testimony  of  Hon.  Keal  Dow,  in  relation  to  Portland? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE.  243 

"  Ten  Months'  Effects  (Jane  1st  to  March  20th)  :  — 

COMMITTALS.  1851.  1852.  Decrease. 

To  Alrashouse 252  146              100 

To  House  of  Correction  for  Intemperance 40            10*              36 

Inmates  of  Almsbouse  on  March  24th 112            90               22 

Out-door  aid  to  Families 135            90               45 

"  At  the  term  of  the  District  Court,  in  March,  1851,  there 
were  17  indictments ;  at  the  term  for  1852  there  was  but  one 
(for  petty  larceny),  the  result  of  a  mistake." 

We  were  ourselves  in  Portland  a  few  days  after  this 
letter  was  published.  At  several  hotels  we  asked  for 
strong  drink,  but  could  not  get  it.  In  the  spring  of 
1855,  the  Hon.  Horace  Greeley  visited  Maine,  and  in 
the  "  New  York  Tribune "  gave  the  following  testi 
mony  :  — 

"The  pretence  that  as  much  liquor  is  sold  now  in  Maine  as 
in  former  years  is  impudently  false.  We  spent  three  days  in 
travelling;  through  the  State,  without  seeing  a  glass  of  it,  or  an 
individual  who  appeared  to  be  under  its  influence ;  and  we 
were  reliably  assured,  that  at  the  Augusta  House,  where  the 
governor  and  most  of  the  Legislature  board,  not  only  was  no 
liquor  to  be  had,  but  even  the  use  of  tobacco  had  almost  entirely 
ceased." 

During  the  mayoralty  of  Mr.  Dow,  the  House  of  Cor- 

*  Notwithstanding  much  greater  activity  of  the  police  under  the  new 
law. 


State  the  decrease  in  committals  to  Almshouse?     House  of  Correction? 
Give  Horace  Greeley's  testimony.     What  other  testimonials   are  given? 


244  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

rection  was  for  a  time  empty.  In  a  pamphlet  of  100 
pages,  published  at  Toronto,  entitled  "  The  Maine  Law 
Illustrated,"  being  the  tour  of  investigation  made  in  Feb 
ruary,  1853,  by  Mr.  A.  Farewell  and  Mr.  G.  P.  Ure, 
on  behalf  of  the  Canadian  Prohibition  League,  we  find 
a  vast  number  of  testimonies  to  the  same  effect,  from 
persons  of  the  highest  character,  including  bishops, 
judges,  governors,  mayors,  marshals,  magistrates,  minis 
ters,  professors,  physicians,  counsellors,  representatives, 
etc.  Their  own  conclusion  is  thus  stated  :  — 

"  It  is  almost  universally  acknowledged  to  be  as  successful 
in  its  operations  as  any  other  penal  law  that  ever  was 
enacted. " 

At  Calais,  on  the  New  Brunswick  border,  N.  Smith 
Jun.,  of  the  Executive  Council,  says  :  — 

"Where  enforced,  the  results  are  good;  the  only  places 
where  it  can  be  said  to  have  failed  are  where  they  have  had 
anti  Maine  Law  justices,  —  irresponsible  for  seven  years  save 
by  impeachment.  Many  of  those  who  sold  liquor  have  turned 
their  attention  to  other  businesses,  and  are  now  better  off  than 
when  selling  liquor.  They  have  far  fewer  bad  debts,  and  more 
reliable  customers." 

Mr.  Sydney  Perham,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  says : — 

"  My  knowledge  of  the  workings  of  the  law  extends  over 
a  large  section  of  the  State.  I  can  assure  you  the  law  works 
well." 


What  was  the  result  at  Calais?    What  testimony  does  Mr.  Terham  give? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  245 

Professor  Pond,  of  Bangor,  says  :  — 

"I  have  not  seen  a  drunken  man  in  our  streets  for  the  last 
six  months.  The  House  of  Correction  has  been,  at  times, 
almost  empty.  I  know  not  but  it  is  so  now.  The  expense  of 
paupers  is  greatly  diminished." 

Under  date  of  September,  1854,  the  "  Edinburgh  News 
Commissioner  "  thus  writes  of  Waterville :  — 

"  Ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  the  cost  of  pauperism  rose,  in  a 
manner  unaccountable  but  for  excessive  drinking,  from  $700 
to  $1,800  a  year.  I  am  told  that  this  year,  with  twice  the  popu 
lation,  the  public  payments  for  the  poor  will  not  exceed  $1,000. 
The  amount  of  crime  is  also  greatly  lessened.  Those  who  still 
deserve  the  name  of  drunkards  are  mostly  Irishmen  and  French 
Canadians,  the  latter  people  having  settled  extensively  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Maine." 

On  the  8th  of  March,  1852,  the  Marshal  of  Gardiner 
reports :  — 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  official  term  of  office  there 
were  in  the  city  14  places  where  intoxicating  liquor  was  sold ; 
some  of  them  the  habitual  resort  of  drunken,  riotous,  and  dis 
orderly  persons.  .  .  .  But  one  person  has  been  convicted  of 
drunkenness  for  the  last  four  months;  but  two  sent  to  the  watch- 
house  for  the  last  six  months.  The  law  has  been  rigidly  and 
quietly  enforced." 

The  Marshal  of  Augusta  reports  for  1852,  as  fol 
lows  :  — 


Prof.  Pond?    "  Edinburgh  News  Commissioner''?    Marshal  of  Gardiner? 
Marshal  of  Augusta? 


246  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEUAXCE. 

"  Augusta  had/o?/r  wholesale  stores,  business  worth  -$200.000 
a  year;  retail-shops,  25.  The  city  was  (officially)  exempted 
from  the  new  law  for  GO  days ;  one  dealer  made  a  profit  of  $900. 
As  soon  as  the  GO  days  were  out,  three  of  the  wholesale  deal 
ers  sent  off  their  liquors  to  New  York.  The  remaining  firm 
persisted  in  selling,  until  about  $1,000  worth  of  their  liquors 
were  seized.  Liquor  may  be  sold  at  the  principal  hotels,  but 
stealthily.  One  of  the  keepers  has  been  twice  convicted.  .  . 
The  police  used  to  be  called  up  100  nights  in  a  year.  Since  the 
passage  of  the  law  they  have  not  been  summoned  once." 

A  gentleman  well  known  to  the  philanthropic  world, 
who  has  several  times  visited  the  western  hemisphere 
in  the  interests  of  the  slave,  writes  us  as  follows :  — 

"  NEAR  CHELMSFORD, 

"8th  month,  llth,  1856. 
"ESTEEMED  FRIEND,  DR.  LEES:  — 

"In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1854,  whilst  travelling  in  the 
State  of  Maine,  we  came  to  Augusta,  its  capital.  We  were 
driven  through  the  city  in  a  sledge,  by  our  friend,  J.  B.  Lang, 
of  Vassalboro',  who,  as  we  passed  along,  pointed  out  to  us  the 
city  jail,  the  windows  of  which  were  boarded  up.  '  This,'  he  said 
to  us,  '  is  owing  to  our  Maine  Law.'  I  think  he  remarked,  '  It 
is  empty  now.' 

"  Thy  assured  friend, 

"Jonx  CANDLER." 

The  Mayor  of  Bangor,  in  his  message  to  the  Council, 
April  22d,  1852,  says  :  — 

"  On  the  1st  July,  when  I  gave  notice  that  I  should  enforce 
the  law,  108  persons  were  selling  liquors  here,  openly ;  20  of 
them  have  left  the  city.  Of  the  remaining  88,  not  one  sells 
openly." 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  247 

lie  furnished  the  following  statistics  :  — 

Decrease. 

1850-51.    Inmates  of  Almshouse  and  House  of  Correction,  12,206 
1851-52.  "  "  "  9,192 

3,101 

1850-51.    Kumber  of  public  prosecutions 101 

1851-52.  "  "  53 

43 

How  far  the  people  of  Maine  were  prepared  to  honor 
and  enforce  the  law  is  best  shown  by  their  election  of 
municipal  boards  :  117  towns  elected  temperance  men  ; 
8  chose  mixed  boards  ;  and  but  34  elected  opposition 
councils.  The  towns  in  favor  represent  a  population 
of  254,891  ;  those  against,  55,565. 

In  1855,  the  prohibitionists  in  Maine  lost  the  election 
of  governor.  The  temporary  repeal  of  the  law,  and 
substitution  of  stringent  license,  with  pecuniary  penal 
ties,  was  ALL  FOR  THE  BEST  ;  making  the  enemies  of 
truth  to  illustrate  it  by  the  workings  of  error.  Did 
the  stringent  license  law  succeed  in  restraining  that  drink 
ing  which  the  "  State  of  Maine  "  newspaper  affirmed  the 
prohibitory  law  had  increased  ?  The  ; '  Portland  Journal " 
reported  a  vast  increase  of  drunkenness,  rows,  burglaries, 
and  other  crime.  The  "  Bangor  Mercury  "  said  :  — 

"  We  arc  informed  by  a  person  in  the  express  business,  one 
who  has  good  opportunities  for  seeing  and  knowing  whereof 
he  speaks,  that  the  quantity  of  liquors  brought  to  this  city 
this  season  is  tenfold  greater  than  U  toas  last  year." 


What  statistics  does  the  Maj'or  of  Bangor  give  ?    State  the  result  of  the 
elections  in  Maine.    What  occurred  in  1855  ? 


248  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

The  "  Calais  Advertiser  "  said :  — 

"  We  have  seen  more  men  reeling  drunk  through  our  street  the 
last  three  months  than  ive  have  seen  before  in  the  last  three 
years" 

1GO.  Southward,  we  pass  to  Massachusetts.  The 
Hon.  II.  "W.  Bishop,  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  says :  — 

"  The  violations  of  the  law  itself  add  to  the  criminal  busi 
ness.  The  operation  of  this  new  law  has  diminished  the  other 
class  very  much.  Crimes  of  personal  violence  have  hitherto 
constituted  two-thirds  of  all  our  criminal  business.  Several 
years  will  pass  before  the  courts  are  satisfied  as  to  the  bearing 
of  this  new  law." 

In  January,  1856,  it  was  announced  that 

•"The  law  has  evidently  driven  the  open  liquor  trade  out  of 
three-fourths  of  the  State.  There  has  been  a  decrease  of  50 
criminals  in  the  State  Prison." 

Mr.  Counsellor  Chapman  said :  — 

"  There  is  not  the  one-hundredth  part  of  the  drinking  in 
Springfield  that  there  was  before  the  temperance  movement 
commenced.  Even  those  who,  in  their  own  families,  use  their 
wine,  give  their  influence  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law.  Assaults 
were  almost  always  committed  under  the  influence  of  drink, 
and  already  that  class  of  crimes  has  nearly  ceased.  Legal  and 
moral  agencies  should  be  combined.  They  are  like  the  soul 
and  body,  and  cannot  act  well  separately." 


100.    What  statement  was  made  by  Judge  Bishop  of  Massachusetts? 
What  by  Counsellor  Chapman? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  249 

Mr.  Morton,  police  justice,  says  :  — 

"  The  city  is  much  more  quiet  than  it  used  to  be.  The  po 
lice  books  will  give  no  correct  information  in  regard  to  drunk 
enness,  because  persons  now  seen  intoxicated  are  arrested, 
which  was  not  the  case  before,  and  persons  will  nowseZZ  in  viola 
tion  of  the  law.  In  this  way  the  criminal  business  appears  to 
have  increased,  but  as  the  other  class  of  offences  which 
formerly  constituted  the  chief  business  of  the  Police  Court 
has  almost  entirely  disappeared,  this  new  class  will  soon  be 
worked  out." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Seeley  says  :  — 

"  Its  beneficial  effects  are  remarkable.  It  evidently  made  a 
very  great  change  in  the  moral  state  of  the  entire  city.  Its 
effects  are  very  marked  upon  our  young  men.  Our  Lyceum 
lectures  were  never  half  so  well  attended" 

In  \Yorcester,  the  number  of  commitments  for  drunk 
enness,  from  June  to  September,  1853,  was  64  less  than 
in  the  same  months  in  1852  ;  106  less  than  in  1850. 

In  1857  the  magistrates  did  not  enforce  the  law.  The 
consequence  was  that  there  were  60  per  cent,  more  prison 
ers  in  tlie  jail  than  in  1855. 

In  various  parts  of  the  State  there  were  held  musters, 
cattle-shows,  public  celebrations,  at  which  the  peace  and 
order  surprised  all  spectators,  and  opened  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  such  assemblages.  The  diminution  of  ar 
rests  for  drunkenness  was  77  per  cent.  If  there  has 


"What  by  Police  Justice  Morton  ?  Rev.  Mr.  Seeley  ?  How  did  the  com 
mitments  in  "Worcester,  in  1853,  compare  with  1852  ?  What  diminution  iu 
drunkenness  was  reported  in  different  parts  of  the  State  I 


250  TEXT-COOK    OF    TEMPERANCE. 

since  been  a  relapse,  it  was  from  no  defect  in  the  law  ; 
it  ivas  enforced  long  enough  to  show  its  power. 

In  the  city  of  Lowell,  according  to  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Huntington,  the  mayor,  for  the  two  months  ending 
September  22d,  1851,  there  were  committed  to  the  watch- 
house  110  in  a  state  of  drunkenness  ;  reported  as  being 
seen  drunk,  not  arrested,  390  ;  total,  500.  In  the  corre 
sponding  period  of  the  next  year,  when  the  law  came 
in  force,  there  were  committed  to  the  watch-house  for 
drunkenness,  70  ;  reported  as  seen  drunk,  but  not  ar 
rested,  110  ;  total,  180  ;  diminution,  320. 

Mr.  D.  W.  Alford,  of  Greenfield,  said :  — 

"A  year  ago  there  were  from  20  to  30  grog-shops;  I  don't 
think  there  is  one  now.  The  law  has  been  a  blessing  beyond 
anything  ice  ever  had.  I  was  afraid  to  send  my  own  child,  a 
boy  of  ten,  into  the  streets  unprotected,  a  year  ago.  Now 
females  are  perfectly  safe." 

Dr.  J.  W.  Stone,  one  of  the  representatives  for  Bos 
ton,  says : — 

"From  the  best  evidence  I  can  gather,  concerning  the  in 
fluence  of  unaided  moral  measures,  the  average  effect  of 
pledges  is,  that  50  per  cent,  adhere  for  a  single  year,  33  for  five 
years,  and  25  per  cent,  permanently.  .  .  I  looked  upon  the  law, 
when  first  enacted  in  our  sister  State,  with  some  suspicion. 
It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  law,  whatever  theories 
drawing  a  different  conclusion  we  might  in  advance  apply  to  it, 
that  where  it  has  been  most  efficiently  executed,  there  the  greatest 
results  in  the  suppression  of  crime  have  been  satisfactorily  achieved  ; 
and  it  has  seized  with  such  strong  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the 

What  was  f  nid  by  Dr.  Stone,  of  Boston  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  251 

people,  that  its  popularity  has  in  those  places  become  invin 
cible." 

Speaking  of  a  great  political  meeting,  held  in  Sep 
tember,  1856,  the  "  Boston  Telegraph"  says  :  — 

"  We  did  not  sec  a  drunken  man  on  the  ground.  This  was 
owing  to  the  fact  thai,  liquor  ivas  not  sold.  Two  or  three  men 
attempted  to  sell,  but  were  soon  routed,  and  took  to  their 
heels." 

1G1.  Proceed  we  next  to  Connecticut:  First,  of 
Hartford,  Mr.  II.  Y.  Phelps,  says  (February,  1855)  :  — 

"The  fighting  and  rioting,  so  common,  have  entirely  disap 
peared.  Open  drinking  is  stopped." 

Rev.  Dr.  Clark  says  :  — 

"The  general  effects  of  the  law  are  good,  — very  apparent  in 
connection  with  our  City  Mission." 

Chief  Justice  Williams  says  :  — 

"  There  are  more  prosecutions  for  drunkenness.  Since  the 
1st  of  August,  1854,  I  have  not  seen  more  than  one  or  two 
instances  of  intemperance  in  the  streets." 

Judge  Bulkeley  says  :  — 

"  There  is  much  less  drunkenness,  much  less  liquor  sold  now. 
It  is  not  sold  openly  at  all,  but  is  driven  into  secret  places. 
The  number  of  misdemeanors  is  far  less." 


161.  Give  the  statement  of  Mr.  TheJps  of  Connecticut.    Of  Dr.  Clark. 
OhJ'tf  Justice  Williams.    Of  Judge  Bulkeley, 


252  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

Mr.  B.  Mann  says  :  — 

"I  have  been  police  justice  here  for  20  years,  and  I  know  a 
very  great  difference  siuce  the  law  went  into  effect." 

Mr.  L.  S.  Cowles  says  :  — 

"  I  have  seen  ten  men  drunk  before  this  law  passed,  for  one 
seen  since.  It  was  only  when  a  drunken  man  was  making 
some  assault,  that  he  was  taken  up  formerly." 

Mr.  D.  Hawley,  city  missionary,  says :  — 

"  I  have  a  mission  Sabbath  school.  Since  the  1st  of  August 
it  has  increased  one-third.  I  have  seen  in  my  rounds,  wives, 
mothers,  even  young  women,  the  worse  for  liquor,  —  but  all 
that  has  changed;  and  in  my  conversations  with  the  poor, 
many  of  them  say  that  the  law  must  have  come  from  heaven, 
—  it  is  too  good  to  have  been  framed  by  man." 

Of  Hartford,  containing  20,000  people,  a  resident 
said  he  had  not  seen  a  single  intoxicated  person  during 
the  year  ! 

The  "  Hartford  Courant,"  of  December  21st,  1854, 
has  this  :  — 

"July,       1853.    Committals  to  Workhouse 16 

July,       1854.             "                    "           20 

August,  1854.              "                     "            8 

August  to  December,  1S54,  discharged  from  the  House 23 

"  On  September  9th,  there  was  not  a  single  male  person  in 


Of  Mr.  Mann.    Of  Mr.  Cowles.    Of  Mr.  Hawley.    What  statement  is 
made  of  Hartford  ?    Give  the  figures  of  the  "  Hnrtford  Courant," 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE .  253 

the  workhouse, — which,  except  for  two  females,  would  have 
been  tenantless.  There  has  not  been  a  parallel  to  this  at  any 
season,  for  eight  years  at  least,  — how  much  longer  we  do  not 
know;  but  we  presume  there  never  was.  Is  there  a  sane 
person  who  doubts  for  an  instant  what  has  caused  this  re 
sult?" 

In  Miclclletown,  police  expense  was  reduced  by  $1,200. 
For  year  ending  October,  1854,  cost  of  paupers,  $2,218 
—  for  1855,  $1,644.  Vagrancy  lessened. 

Mr.  Freeman,  of  Iladdam  village,  says:  — 

"  Paupers  reduced  from  10  to  4.  Quite  an  improvement  in 
the  sale  of  necessary  articles  of  life." 

Mr.  Day,  of  East  Iladdam,  says :  — 

"Drunkenness  diminished  decidedly.  Persons  in  alms- 
house,  previously,  24 ;  now  16.  No  person  sent  to  jail  since 
the  law  enacted." 

Dr.  F.  Farnswortb,  of  Norwich,  January,  1856, 
says :  — 

"  The  amount  of  disease  in  poor  families,  is  not  one-tenth  what 
it  was.  Casualties  are  largely  diminished." 

The  "  Norwich  Examiner  "  has  the  following  statis 
tics  :  — 

"  COMMITTALS. 

(.August  1,  to  July  31.)  1853-54       1854-55       Decrease. 

To  Norwich  Almshouse 61  40  21 

To  New  London  County  Jail 220  127  93 


What  was  the  result  in  Middletowu?    East  Iladdam?    Norwich? 


254  TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE. 

"  Of  the  220  cases,  73  were  for  drunkenness,  and  4  for  sell 
ing;  of  the  127  cases,  35  were  for  drunkenness,  2  for  getting 
liquor  under  false  pretences,  and  1G  for  selling;  and  these 
cases  must  obviously,  under  the  continued  operation  of  the 
law,  cease. 

"  Number  in  jail  August  1st,  1855,  10.  Four  times  as  many 
sellers  have  been  committed  the  past  year  as  during  the  pre 
vious  year;  but  only  half  as  many  drunkards." 

The  "  Home  Journal,"  of  July  7th,  1855,  says:  — 

"  The  Maine  liquor  law  has  ruined  the  jail  business  com 
pletely.  The  jail  at  Wyndham  is  to  be  let  for  a  boarding- 
house." 

Mayor  Brooks,  of  Bridgeport,  gives  emphatic  testi 
mony  in  favor  of  the  law,  in  his  report  to  the  Common 
Council.  He  says  that  when  mayor,  three  years  ago, 
he  was  called  up  three  nights  out  of  five,  throughout  the 
entire  year,  to  disperse  brawling  and  noisy  mobs. 

"During  the  past  year  I  have  not  been  called  upon  in  a 
single  instance,  by  watch  at  night,  to  suppress  or  disperse  any 
assemblage  of  riotous  persons.  All  this  change  I  attribute  to 
the  working  of  the  new  liquor  law.  It  is  a  rare  sight  to  see 
.a  person  drunk." 

"Chambers'  Journal,"  January  20,  1855,  cites  as 
follows :  — 

"  On  the  1st  of  August,  1854,  the  new  law  came  into  opera- 


What  was  the  result  in  Bridgeport  ?    What  testimony  in  favor  of  the  law 
is  given  in  "  Chambers'  Journal "  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  255 

tion  in  Connecticut,  and  was  carried  out  in  a  very  stringent 
manner.  A  great  change  was  visible  immediately  after,  in 
New  Haven,  the  capital.  The  noisy  gangs  of  rowdies  disap 
peared,  and  their  midnight  brawls  ceased;  our  streets  were 
quiet  night  and  day;  and  the  most  violent  opponents  of  the 
law  said,  *  If  such  are  the  effects  of  the  law,  we  will  oppose 
it  no  longer.'  A  few  persons  got  intoxicated  upon  liquor  from 
New  York,  and  were  promptly  arrested,  and  fined  20  dollars 
and  costs,  which  they  paid,  or  went  to  jail.  As  to  the  prisons  and 
almshouses  in  the  various  parts  of  the  State,  they  are  getting 
empty.  A  large  number  of  our  most  desperate  villains,  who 
formerly  kept  grog-shops  and  gambling-houses,  have  emi 
grated,  finding  business  so  bad.  Several  who  kept  gamblinfj- 
saloons  and  disorderly  houses,  in  defiance  of  law,  declared  that 
neither  one  nor  the  other  can  be  supported  without  liquor,  and 
have  moved  to  New  York,  where  they  can  continue  their  in 
famous  business  advantageously." 

The  "Puritan  Recorder,"  in  the  spring  of  185G,  con 
tained  a  letter,  from  which  we  transcribe  the  following 
paragraph,  showing  how  the  law  cherishes  charitable 
feeling  and  forethought :  — 

"  Another  characteristic  has  marked  the  past  winter.  There 
was  less  complaint  than  usual  on  the  part  of  the  poor.  Tlie 
attention  was  more  awake  on  the  subject;  more  had  been  contrib 
uted  and  done  to  secure  the  relief  needed.  The  poor  more 
economically  husbanded  their  own  resources.  The  operation 
of  the  Maine  Law  had  sensibly  counteracted  the  sources  of 
want.  These  beneficial  effects  have  been  perceived  to  be  in 
creasing  ever  since  the  law  began  to  take  effect.  Another  fact 
tells  with  emphasis.  It  is  the  marked  diminution  of  fires. 
Since  August  1st,  1854,  the  loss  of  property  from  this  cause  has 
one-half  less." 


What  testimony  in  the  "Puritan  Recorder"? 


256  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

The   Rev.   Leonard   Bacon,   D.D.,   of   New  Haven, 

says :  — 

"The  operation  of  the  law  for  one  year  is  a  matter  of  obser 
vation  to  the  inhabitants.  Its  effect,  in  promoting  peace,  or 
der,  quiet,  and  general  prosperity,  no  man  can  deny.  Never 
for  twenty  years  has  our  city  been  so  quiet  and  peaceful  asunder  its 
action.  It  is  no  longer  simply  a  question  of  temperance,  but  a 
governmental  question  —  one  of  legislative  foresight  and 
morality." 

Governor  Button  said  :  — 

"  Criminal  prosecutions  are  rapidly  diminishing.  The  home 
of  the  peaceful  citizen  was  never  before  so  secure." 

162.  Rhode  Island  comes  next,  —  where,  however,  vari 
ous  obstacles  have  been  placed  in  the  way  of  the  enact 
ment.    Mr.  Barstow,  the  Mayor  of  Providence,  said  :  — 

"  After  the  law  had  been  in  operation  three  months,  I  published 
statistics,  showing  that  the  law,  in  that  short  time,  had  made 
a  reduction  of  nearly  CO  per  cent,  in  our  monthly  committals. 

COMMITTALS. 

Decrease. 

1851.  To  Watch-House  for  drunkenness  and  assaults. .     282 
1S52.  "  «  «  177 

105 

•     1851.    To  County  Jail 101 

1852.  "  99 

02" 

163.  In  Vermont  the  law  has  been  still  more  success 
ful. 


"What  testimony  by  Leonard  Bacon  ? 

162.  What  statistics  are  given  by  Mr.  Barstow,  of  Rhode  Island  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  257 

Iii  July,  1853,  Mr.  L.  Underwood,  States'  Attorney 
of  Chittenden  County,  wrote  from  Burlington  :  — 

"The  law  has  put  an  end  to  drunkenness  and  crime  almost 
entirely.  Within  this  town,  from  December  1,  1852,  until 
March  8,  1853,  complaints  were  made  to  me,  almost  daily,  for 
breaches  of  the  peace ;  and,  on  investigation,  I  was  satisfied 
that  uine-tenlhs  of  the  crimes  were  caused  by  drunkenness. 
Since  the  8th  of  March,  two  complaints  only  have  been  made  for 
such  offences,  and  only  one  was  caused  by  drunkenness." 

Mr.  M.  L.  Church  said,  February,  1855 :—- 

"lam  very  much  pleased  with  the  law.  You  might  stay 
here  for  a  mouth,  and  you  would  not  see  a  drunken  man  in  the 
city." 

The  Grand  Jury  in  their  report  said  :  — 

"  We  feel  highly  gratified  to  find  the  jail  destitute  of  inmates, 
—  a  circumstance  attributable,  in  a  very  great  measure  we 
believe,  to  the  suppression  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liq 
uors.  " 

Professor  Pease,  of  Burlington  University,  says  :  — 

"  There  is  a  very  great  diminution  in  the  use  of  liquors 
by  the  students.  We  have  not  had,  for  a  year  past,  any  row 
dyism." 

At  the  fall  elections  of  1856,  General  Fletcher,  the 
president  of  the  State  Temperance  Society,  was  elected 


1G3.  What  important  testimony  is  given  by  the  State  Attorney  of  Ver 
mont  ?    What  by  Mr.  Church  ?    Give  the  Report  of  the  Grand  Jury.    What 
was  the  result  of  the  election  of  1S5G  ?    Give  Gen.  Fletcher's  testimony. 
17 


TKXT-BOOIv   OF   TEMPKIIAXCE. 

governor  of  the  State.     On  the  Dili  of  October,  in  de 
livering  his  message,  he  used  these  words  :  — 

"Coming  from  all  portions  of  the  Commonwealth,  you  have 
personal  knowledge  of  the  practical  operation  of  this  law,  and  its 
adaptation  to  accomplish  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  designed." 

164.  Last  of  the  New  England  States,  comes  New 
Hampshire,  which  had  been  so  long  the  "  grog-shop  "for 
the  "  thirsty  souls  "  of  the  bordering  States. 

In  March,  1856,  the  "Journal"  announced  that 

"  The  law  works  admirably  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Pau 
perism  and  crime  are  almost  unknown.  " 

The  General  Association  of  the  Congregationalist 
churches,  held  on  the  26th  August,  1856,  in  their  report 
say :  — 

"  We  are  called  upon  to  give  thanks  to  God  for  the  prohibitory 
law,  which  has  been  attended  with  such  happy  results." 

The  "  Enquirer,"  published  at  Dover,  says  (Septem 
ber,  1856):  — 

"  The  jail,  which  usually  has  a  good  supply  of  tenants,  has 
been  entirely  empty  for  several  weeks  past." 

Another  report  from  Stratford  County  announced 
that  "  for  several  weeks  the  jail  has  been  empty" 

The  "  Tribune,"  Indiana,  published  the  following,  in 

104.  What  was  New  Hampshire  called  ?  What  was  the  happy  result  of 
the  law?  Give  the  testimony  of  the  General  Association.  "Enquirer." 
What  account  is  given  in  the  "  Tribune  "  in  reference  ta  prisoners  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  250 

April,  1856.  Committed  to  penitentiary,  5  months  pre 
ceding  June,  1855,  when  the  law  went  into  effect,  83. 
Committed  during  7  months  after,  51,  — a  reduction  of 
50  per  cent.  Since  the  law  was  annulled  by  the  Court, 
drinking  and  gambling  have  held  carnival. 

IOWA.  — A  letter  from  the  State's  Attorney  says  :  — 

"  The  prohibitory  law  in  this  State  is  doing  considerable  good. 
It  icorJcs  well.  If  vigorously  carried  out,  it  will  effect  moro 
than  all  the  moral-reform  lectures  that  can  be  mustered  into 
the  service." 

A  correspondent,  under  date  of  August  14th,  185G, 
says :  — 

"  There  are  many  towns  in  Iowa  where  there  is  not  a  glass 
of  liquor  sold,  aucl,  if  the  reformation  continues,  all  the  citizens 
of  that  lovely  prairie  State  will  soon  be  free  from  the  withering 
and  blasting  effects  of  the  liquor  traffic." 

Under  a  knowledge  of  such  facts  as  we  have  detailed, 
can  we  wonder  at  the  expression  of  the  Rev.  John  D. 
Lawyer,  chaplain  to  New  York  State  Prison,  at  Auburn? 
—  "  Give  us  the  Maine  Law,  and  in  five  years  Auburn 
Prison  is  no  more." 

165.  In  Canada  the  agitation  on  behalf  of  the  Maine 
Law  has  been  carried  on  with  varying  success,  but  with 
substantial  progress.  After  long  effort,  the  temperance 
men  succeeded  in  turning  the  attention  of  their  Legisla 
ture  to  the  traffic  in  strong  drink,  and,  as  a  result,  in 
1855,  a  prohibitory  law  passed  their  legislative  assem- 


TVhat  account  from  Iowa  ?    What  was  the  expression  of  Kev.  J.  D.  Law 
yer,  of  Auburn?    What  was  the  progress  iaCauada? 


2 GO  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

bly  by  a  vote  of  51  to  29.  The  bill,  however,  was  ob 
structed  in  every  way,  and  at  last  thrown  over,  on  a 
technical  objection,  referring  to  some  omission  in  the 
forms  of  the  House.  This  but  increased  the  ardor  of  the 
friends  of  the  bill,  whose  exertions  were  redoubled. 
Petitions  poured  in  during  the  next  session.  The  peti 
tions  in  favor  were  signed  by  108,417,  in  proportion  to 
every  4,388  against  it.  Amongst  others,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Montreal,  with  20,000  of  his  parish 
ioners,  signed  a  petition,  praying  the  Canadian  Parlia 
ment  to  outlaw  the  liquor  traffic.  The  petitions  against 
the  measure  emanated  from  the  large  cities,  and  from 
those  localities  in  which  the  influence  of  the  traffic  was 
most  powerful.  Though  the  faith  of  some  who  had 
undertaken  to  pilot  the  bill  through  the  storms  of  the 
opposition  was  shaken  by  the  temporary  disaster  in 
Maine,  and  they  deserted  the  helm  at  the  most  criti 
cal  moment,  —  the  measure  being  again  stranded  in 
consequence,  —  it  was  yet  felt  that  indifference  to  the 
claims  of  popular  feeling  could  be  no  longer  assumed. 
Special  committees  of  inquiry  were  appointed  by  the 
House  of  Assembly  and  the  Legislative  Council.  Both 
committees  reported  the  results  of  their  investigation. 
That  of  the  Council  recommended  the  license  law  which 
replaced  prohibition  in  Maine,  —  a  law  which,  defective 
in  itself,  would  yet  be  an  immense  step  in  advance  of 
any  then  existing  in  Canada.  But  the  Assembly  com 
mittee  repudiated  all  such  jejune  and  unsatisfactory  con- 


How  many  petitioned  for  the  passage  of  the  law?  How  many  against? 
What  stand  was  taken  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Montreal  ?  What 
was  the  position  of  the  Assembly  and  Council?  What  partial  laws  were 
adopted  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  261 

elusions,  and  reported  in  favor  of  downright  prohibition , 
declaring  that  "  no  legislative  reform  had  been  de 
manded  with  such  unanimity." 

Though  a  Maine  Law  has  not  yet  been  adopted,  many 
landmarks  have  been  erected  to  mark  progress.  In 
1853  the  principles  of  the  law  were  applied  to  localities 
in  which  public  works  were  in  progress ;  it  being  for 
bidden  "  to  sell,  barter,  or  dispose  of  any  kind  of  intox 
icating  liquor  within  a  distance  of  three  miles  of  any 
public  works  declared  to  be  in  progress."  In  1855,  a 
new  "  Municipal  Act"  enabled  County  Councils  to  free 
their  districts  from  the  traffic  by  their  own  ordinance. 

Already  this  power  has  been  put  into  force  ;  for,  not 
withstanding  that  Upper  Canada  has  shown  more  favor 
to  prohibition,  Lower  Canada  has,  in  nine  County  Coun 
cils,  determined  "  to  prevent,  so  far  as  in  their  power, 
the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  within  their  limits." 

In  Nova  Scotia  a  prohibitory  liquor  law  is  steadily 
demanded.  In  1855  a  bill  was  introduced  and  carried 
through  the  House  of  Assembly,  which  passed  on  the 
second  reading  by  a  vote  of  29  to  19,  and,  on  the  third, 
without  a  division.  In  several  counties,  however,  the 
traffic  is  suppressed  with  great  benefit. 

In  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  prohibition  has 
still  further  developed  itself.  In  consequence  of  the 
vigorous  agitation  kept  up  by  the  temperance  men,  a 
law  was  adopted  in  1853,  which  prohibited  the  sale  of 
spirits,  but  allowed  the  license  for  other  intoxicants.  As 
might  be  expected,  a  measure  so  partial  failed  in  obtain- 


What  progress  was  made  in  Nova  Scotia  ?    What  was  the  result  of  the 
agitation  in  New  Brunswick  ? 


2 02  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

ing  a  satisfactory  result,  and  it  was  repealed  in  1854. 
From  the  first  this  measure  has  been  regarded  by  the 
friends  of  prohibition  as  an  insidious  triumph  of  the 
liquor  interest,  which  sought,  through  its  failure,  to  re 
tard  the  coming  struggle.  The  failure  of  the  law  of 
1853,  however,  did  NOT  disgust  the  people  with  legisla* 
lion,  but  only  made  them  resolve  that  their  future  legis 
lation  should  be  sounder.  At  the  next  election  a  strong 
temperance  House  was  returned,  the  most  earnest  of 
that  party  entering  the  government.  Nothing  could  be 
more  emphatic  than  the  decision  of  public  opinion.  Ac 
cordingly,  in  1855,  a  law  was  passed  "  totally  prohibit 
ing  the  manufacture,  sale,  and  importation  of  all  intoxi 
cating  drinks,"  to  take  effect  from  January  1st,  1856. 
The  bill  was  sent  to  the  mother  countiy  for  ratification  by 
the  home  government,  accompanied  by  a  despatch,  con 
taining  thirty  elaborate  paragraphs  intended  to  dissuade 
the  government  in  England  from  recommending  the 
queen  to  sanction  the  measure.  The  bill  was  referred 
to  a  committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  and,  on  their  re 
port,  ordered  to  go  into  operation  as  fixed  and  declared. 
Every  effort  was  directed  to  defeat  the  operation  of  the 
law ;  mobs  were  organized,  disturbances  initiated ;  but 
these  attempts  of  the  trade  only  stimulated  the  enthusi 
asm  of  the  upholders  of  the  bill.  Mass  meetings,  in 
favor  of  prohibition,  were  held,  and  energetic  steps 
adopted  for  enforcing  the  law.  During  the  first  twenty 
days  of  January,  1856,  notwithstanding  all  difficulties^ 
the  intemperance  of  the  city  of  St.  John  was  reduced  80 
per  cent. 

What  result,  was  produced  in  St.  John? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF    TEMPERANCE.  2G3 

In  the  Legislature  a  motion  was  in  ado  to  dissolve  the 
House,  and  appeal  to  the  people  while  laboring  under 
the  excitement  of  the  struggle  and  of  baffled  appetite. 
This  ruse  was  negatived  by  an  emphatic  vote  of  29  to  11, 
and  the  law  sustained.  At  last  a  willing  hand  was  found 
to  deal  a  blow  at  the  law.  The  lieutenant-governor,  on 
his  own  responsibility,  dissolved  the  Assembly,  the  ministry 
resigned,  and  then,  with  a  new  ministry,  the  lieutenant- 
governor  precipitated  an  election.  The  stratagem  was 
successful,  and  the  law  fell,  under  the  pressure  of  pre 
rogative  never  before  exercised  in  the  colonies  since  the 
recognition  of  their  independent  constitution,  and  which 
has  not  been  asserted  in  the  mother  country  since  the 
bad  clays  of  the  Stuarts. 

166.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  temperance  movement 
achieved  its  partial  triumphs  in  other  countries.  In 
Norway  it  had  a  saving  effect,  and  arrested  the  down 
ward  progress  of  its  people,  but  in  other  parts  of  the 
continent  of  Europe,  after  a  few  spasmodic  efforts  in 
Poland,  in  the  Netherlands,  and  in  Germany,  —  where 
Pastor  Boscher,  of  Kirchrode,  Hanover,  attempted  much 
with  indifferent  success,  —  the  cause  has  all  but  died  out. 
The  beer-drinking  and  wine-soaking  of  the  continent 
seems  to  have  killed  the  soul  of  Christian  self-denial,  and 
to  have  made  "  pleasure  "  the  great  end  and  aim  of  life. 
In  Britain  the  cause  has  fared  better,  especially  in  Scot 
land,  the  north  of  England,  and  Wales.  The  Free  Kirk 
and  the  Evangelical  Union  of  Scotland  have  generally 


What  action  was  taken  in  the  Legislature  ? 

lf)0.  What  has  been  the  progress  of  the  cause  abroad?    In  Norway,  Ger 
many,  etc.  ? 


264  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

patronized  the  movement,  and  the  Scottish  Temperance 
League,  and  Scottish  Permissive  Bill  Association,  are 
now  two  powerful  organizations,  —  the  former  having  a 
large  and  successful  publishing  establishment.  Both 
societies  have  organs  of  their  own,  —  the  first-named  a 
weekly  journal,  the  second  a  monthly  issue,  u  The  Social 
Reformer."  In  Ireland,  too,  especially  in  Dublin  and 
the  north,  there  is  considerable  activity,  but  no  national 
life.  A  large  number  of  the  Presbyterian  divines  of 
Ulster  are  abstainers ;  but  their  fervor  is  lessened,  and 
their  usefulness  limited,  by  dogmatic  prejudices  in  favor 
of  wine,  based  upon  the  popular  misinterpretations  of 
Scripture.  In  England  there  are  thousands  of  tem 
perance  societies,  and  four  or  five  general  leagues, 
working  in  several  districts  or  counties,  as  East, 
West,  and  North.  The  Episcopal  Church  (Church  of 
England)  has  a  society  of  its  own,  upwards  of  GOO  of 
its  ministers  having  joined  it.  They  publish  a  moifthly 
magazine.  The  Wesleyans  also  have  their  societies. 
Three  associations,  however,  are  specially  noticeable  for 
their  peculiarities  and  their  influence.  First  and  oldest, 
the  British  Temperance  League,  founded  in  1835,  which 
employs  a  staff  of  agents,  and  publishes  a  monthly  or 
gan.  Its  head-quarters  are  at  Bolton,  Lancashire.  Its 
principles  are  thorough  on  all  points.  Second,  the 
National  Temperance  League,  the  operation  of  which  is 
chiefly  confined  to  London  and  the  South.  It  aims  to 
operate  especially,  by  special  and  semi-private  action, 
on  the  respectable  classes,  so  called,  and  its  tone  is 


What  in  Scotland ?    In  Ireland?    In  England?    What  are  the  three  great 
English  societies? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  2G5 

modified  and  moderated  to  suit  its  clients.  It  has  in 
past  years  bad  an  unfriendly,  even  hostile  attitude,  to 
thorough  teetotalism  and  legal  action,  but  has  improved 
as  the  cause  of  prohibition  and  truth  became  more  estab 
lished  in  the  national  mind.  It  publishes  a  "  Weekly 
Record  "  of  its  doings.  Third  and  last,  not  least,  is  the 
Grand  Alliance  (as  Lord  Brougham  called  it,  one  of  its 
vice-presidents),  formed  June  1st,  1853,  "for  procuring 
the  total  and  immediate  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic." 
Its  president  is  Sir  Walter  C.  Trevelyan,  Bart.,  supported 
by  a  host  of  distinguished  vice-chairmen,  including  Mr. 
B.  Whitworth,  M.  P.,  Sir  Wilford  Lawson,  Bart.,  M.  P., 
who,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1864,  introduced  the  Per 
missive  Bill  into  the  House  of  Commons,  and  obtained 
forty  supporters  on  its  first  discussion  ;  and  again,  on  the 
12th  of  May,  18G9,  when  he  obtained  mnetj^-three  sup 
porters,  and  greatly  reduced  the  votes  against  him.  The 
object  of  that  bill  is  simply  to  permit,  by  empowering^ 
the  Kate-payers  of  a  district  (parish,  town,  or  township), 
to  VETO  applications  for  licenses  to  sell  inebriating  liq 
uors,  a  power  now  permitted  to  magistrates  or  justices  of 
the  peace,  and  which  they  generally  exercise  for  the  pro 
tection  and  purity  of  their  own  immediate  neighborhoods. 
An  executive  committee  of  teetotalers,  at  Manchester, 
conducts  the  association,  —  which  is  called  the  "United 
Kingdom  Alliance  ; "  the  working  secretary  is  Mr.  T.  II. 
Barker  ;  the  honorary  secretary  Mr.  Samuel  Pope,  an  able 
barrister-at-law,  and  Recorder  of  Bolton.  The  annual  in 
come  now  amounts  to  about  $GO,000,which  is  effectively  ex 
pended  in  the  advocacy  of  temperance  and  prohibition.  It 

Describe  their  specialities.    What  is  the  aim  and  agency  of  the  Grand  Al 
liance  ? 


266  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

publishes  a  one  shilling  quarterly  called  "Meliora" 
(Journal  of  Social  Science),  and  a  weekly  newspaper, 
"  The  Alliance  News,"  circulating  upwards  of  20,000 
copies.  Its  peculiar  province  is  political  action,  with 
the  view  of  first  limiting,  and  finally  suppressing,  the 
liquor  traffic. 


IX. 

af 


1G7.  It  was  said  of  old,  that  "History  is  philosophy 
teaching  by  example."  If  so,  the  glance  we  have  taken 
at  the  history  and  results  of  intemperance  in  ancient  and 
modern  times  should  be  full  of  instructive  philosophy, 
seeing  that  the  lesson  is  at  once  so  continuous  and  so 
uniform.  Like  effects  point  to  like  causes,  and  the 
question  of  cause  is  that  which,  in  regard  to  this  subject, 
is  at  once  most  fundamental  and  most  practical.  No 
matter  as  to  what  period,  or  place,or  people  we  go,  for 
learning  the  effects  of  intoxicants,  the  same  class  of  ter 
rible  FACTS  are  summoned  up,  and  the  fugitive  past  is  but 
the  photograph  of  the  living  present.  Drunkenness,  in 
its  folly,  its  revel,  its  obscenity,  its  beastliness,  staggers 
across  the  vision,  —  Poverty,  clothed  with  the  rags  of 
innocence  or  the  filth  of  vice,  files  past,  —  Ignorance,  with 
her  sightless  orbs,  attended  by  her  sad  and  hopeless 
brood,  gropes  on  to  the  darkness  beyond,  —  Prostitution, 


107.  What  is  history  ?    What  lesson  docs  it  teach  ?    What  train  follows 
drunkenness  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  267 

in  flaunting  robes  of  guilt,  with  heart-on-fire  of  hell,  hur 
ries,  shrieking  and  mocking,  onwards  to  the  flowing 
stream  beneath  "  the  Bridge  of  Sighs," — Disease  with 
draws  its  curtain,  that  we  may  see  its  lazar  victims 
stretched  on  their  "bed  abhorred,"  —  Idiocy  ,with  inco 
herent  gibberings  and  lack-lustre  eyes,  shows  itself,  — 
Insanity,  with  her  multiplied  children,  here  "  moping 
melancholy,"  there  raving  madness,  comes  up  and  van 
ishes  from  sight,  —  Brutal  Lust,  fiercely  glaring  upon 
outraged  chastity,  stalks  by,  —  and  the  fearful  panorama 
closes  with  Crime,  apparelled  in  garments  purple  with 
the  blood  of  victims  ! 

Can  any  question  be  more  important  than  that  which 
refers  to  the  cause  and  the  cure  of  such  a  condition  of 
mankind?  Ten  years  ago,  the  London  "  Times  "  offered 
to  the  temperance  societies,  the  following  tribute : 
"  They  have  in  their  da}r,  and  at  intervals,  done  a  good 
deal ;  they  are  not  doing  so  much  now.  There  is  a 
fashion  in  these  things.  This  machinery  for  acting  on 
the  human  imagination  is  not  alwa}rs  to  be  got  up  at  the 
exact  moment  you  want  it.  It  depends  on  the  turn  of 
enthusiasm,  on  individual  impulses,  on  the  unknown  suc 
cession  of  ideas  in  human  society,  which  we  can  no 
more  predict,  with  any  certainty,  than  we  can  the  tem 
perature  of  the  next  winter  and  spring."  The  writer 
ought  to  have  said  the  known  succession  of  ideas,  since 
it  is  the  very  business  of  the  reformer  —  the  mission  for 
which  he  was  called  forth  out  of  the  needs  of  his  epoch, 
—  to  perceive,  inaugurate,  systematize,  and  promulgate 


Give  the  statement  of  the  "Times,"  and  explain  its  error.    What  is  the 
mission  of  the  reformer  ? 


268  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

those  ideas,  whose  function  it  is  to  work  out  a  certain 
and  determinate  issue.  It  is  the  presence  of  this  percep 
tion,  the  possession  of  this  knowledge,  which  makes  all 
the  difference  between  the  real  and  the  sham  reformer ; 
as  it  is  the  possession  of  the  art  and  skill  of  working, 
which  makes  the  difference  between  the  real  and  the  pre 
tended  craftsman.  While  the  mere  empirics,  the  men  of 
crotchets  and  experiments,  attach  themselves  to  a  move 
ment,  like  barnacles  to  the  keel  and  sides  of  a  stately 
ship,  true  genius  steadily  and  persistently  presses  for 
ward  to  the  mark  which  inspires  him  by  its  greatness. 
It  is  the  prerogative  of  such  men  to  perceive  the  great 
tides  of  thought,  —  to  feel  and  comprehend  the  tendency 
and  want  of  an  age,  —  to  know,  and  so  to  prophesy,  the 
coming  event,  and  to  seek  its  embodiment  in  appropriate 
form  ;  and  all  this  because  they  are  part  of  that  tide,  — 
the  deepest  or  the  topmost  wave  of  it,  —  and  therefore 
its  fitting,  chosen,  and  successful  exponents.  In  moral 
and  social  matters  the  reformer  may  exaggerate  his 
idea,  or  give  to  it  a  one-sidedness  ;  but  that  is  not  al 
ways  a  disadvantage  ;  for  it  may  tend  to  outweigh  the 
indifference  or  the  stolidity  of  the  masses.  If  all  minds 
were  of  the  calm,  unbiased  kind,  enthusiasm  would  be 
out  of  place  in  this  world.  As  Providence  prepares  the 
thought  in  the  reformer,  so  it  prepares  it  less  consciously 
in  kindred  souls ;  and  thus  it  happens  that  when  the 
master  speaks,  the  disciple  answers,  as  thought  re 
sponds  to  thought,  and  heart  to  heart.  In  a  country, 
therefore,  where  the  press  and  platform  are  free,  a  great 
movement  based  upon  truth,  and  born  of  social  neces 
sity,  needs  not  to  "  depend  on  turns  of  enthusiasm,"  or 
"  individual  impulses."  On  the  contrary,  it  may  and  it 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  269 

ought  to  proceed  according  to  a  known  succession  of 
ideas,  which,  it  is  the  business  of  intelligent  and  true 
leaders  to  found  upon  clear  and  certain  grounds  of  fact 
and  philosophy. 

168.  The  "  Times,"  indeed,  as  a  true  representative  of 
commonplace  ignorance,  thinks  that  the  fancied  fact  of 
there  being  "  so  little  to  be  said  about  drunkenness  and 
its  cure"  may  account  for  the  topic  being  ignored  by 
fashionable  social  reformers,  but  concedes  that  "it  is 
not  a  very  agreeable  subject,"  since  the  cure  proposed 
demands  self-denial  as  well  as  the  reading  of  papers. 
After  all,  can  that  monster  vice  and  opprobrium  of  civi 
lization,  especially  of  the  Saxon  race,  —  a  vice  that  has 
so  stubbornly  defied  so  many  remedies,  social,  legisla 
tive,  and  religious,  —  which  has  set  at  naught  for  cen 
turies  the  hortations  of  the  moralist,  the  anathemas 
of  the  church,  and  the  penalties  of  the  state,  —  can  such 
a  vice,  in  its  origin  and  its  growth,  be  really  a  subject 
on  which  so  little  can  be  thought  and  uttered  ?  Or  is  not 
the  fact  really  this,  that  everything  but  the  right  thing 
has  been  said?  At  any  rate  there  must  be  a  philosophy 
of  its  cause,  even  if  there  be  no  hope  of  its  cure.  Nay, 
if  it  be  at  once  inveterate  and  invulnerable,  —  if,  in  re 
lation  to  this  disorder  of  the  body-politic,  we  adopt  a 
dreary,  hopeless  fatalism, —  still  it  must,  for  that  very 
reason,  all  the  more  have  a  philosophy  fixed  in  the 
necessity  of  things,  —  something  singular  and  unique  to 
be  discovered  and  discussed  concerning  it !  This  is  an 
age  of  science,  and  we  ought  to  have  the  science  of  this 


168.  What  is  the  philosophy  of  intemperance  ?    On  what  condition  shall 
the  vice  be  extirpated  ? 


270  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

question,  feeling  assured,  indeed,  that  whether  the  tri 
umph  of  temperance  is  deferred,  or  hastened,  depends 
very  much  on  the  activity  with  which  we  propagate  just 
and  potent  ideas  and  plans  among  the  people,  and  that 
again  upon  the  clearness  and  vigor  with  which  we  grasp 
them  ourselves. 

169.  Sometimes  we  hear,  alike  from  friends  as  foes, 
now   that   "  moral   suasion  has  failed,"  and  now  that 
"  legal  suasion  has  failed."     Neither  have  failed  in  fact, 
because  men  are  disappointed  in  absurd  expectations. 
Our  blunders  of  method,  our  partial  plans,  are  no  ground 
for  despair.     The  police  is  not  a  failure,  because  they 
do  not  make  rogues  honest,  but  only  limit  their  roguery ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  preacher  is  not  a  failure,  be 
cause  he  does  not  convert   the  fool,  the  sot,   or  the 
burglar.     "  The  knowledge  of  a  disease  is  the  first  half 
of  the  cure."    Until  the  nature  and  causes  of  our  evil 
conditions  are  known,  a  full  and  adequate  remedy  is 
simply  impossible  ;  and  so,  until  we  are  fully  equipped, 
we  have  neither  ground  for  expectation  nor  discourage 
ment.     When  enthusiasm  is  embarked,  without  chart, 
in  a  ship  not   seaworthy,   which  can  never  reach  the 
hoped-for  port,  a  collapse  of  effort  follows,  and  it  is  long 
before  the  undertaking  can  be  renewed  in  the  old  spirit, 
even  with  wiser  pilotage  and  in  a  fitter  vessel.     It  is 
never  the  delay  of  reform  that  destroys  the  eager  spirit 
demanding  it,  but  the  acceptance  of  an  unsatisfactory 
and  partial  reform,  proved  to  be  a  mockery  by  the  vanity 
of  the  result.     Opposition  but  rouses  to  an  increased  ex- 


169.  Does  either  "  suasion  "  or  "  law  "  fail  ?    What  are  the  results  of  false 
expectations  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  271 

hibition  of  power,  equal  to  the  emergency ;  it  is  the 
delusive  concession  which  paralyzes  the  reformer  and 
postpones  his  triumph  indefinitely.  The  only  lasting 
revolutions  of  history  have  been  the  complete  and  radical 
ones,  for  those  that  were  partial  have  had  the  elements 
of  reaction  within  them.  The  English  Beer  Act  is  a 
memorable  example  of  the  perniciousness  of  a  false  re 
form,  which  tampers  with  effects  instead  of  touching  the 
causes  of  an  evil.  The  church,  the  press,  and  the  par 
liament,  thirty-five  years  ago,  were  united  in  agreeing 
that  the  monstrous  nuisance  of  the  GO, 000  PUBLIC- 
HOUSES  of  Britain  must  be  abated.  The  remedy  pre 
scribed  was  the  addition  of  40,000  BEER-HOUSES,  —  in 
other  words,  freer  trade  in  beer,  and  a  cheaper  article. 
After  the  trial  and  failure  of  this  quack  remedy,  what 
advance  has  been  made  by  the  ruling  classes?  They 
have  retrograded  as  a  necessary  consequence.  The  IN 
STITUTION  has  strengthened  itself  in  the  conservatism  of 
society;  and  the  magistracy,  home  government,  and 
bishops  can  now,  after  all  this  additional  evil,  only  pro 
pose  to  make  the  beer-shops  subject  to  the  same  control 
as  the  original  evil  they  were  designed  to  destroy. 
With  a  worse  disorder  than  of  old,  entrenched  in  vested 
interests,  we  are  to  have  the  old,  unsuccessful  medicine 
applied  to  a  third  more  cases  of  disease,  licensed  by 
the  law  itself. 

Agricultural  science,  if  not  of  slow  growth,  had  pro 
gressive  steps,  each  development  preceded  by  partial 
failure,  and  by  much  doubt  and  disappointment.  At 


Give  an  example  from  English  history  of  the  folly  of  partial  and  erroneous 
methods  of  cure.    Giv«  an  illustration  from  agriculture. 


272  TEXT -BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

first,  farmers  thought  they  had  little  else  to  do  in  order 
to  realize  good  crops  than  to  sow  good  seed;  their 
ploughing  was  superficial,  their  dressing  imperfect,  their 
dunging  defective.  At  last,  they  began  to  see  the  value 
of  appropriate  and  plentiful  manure  as  the  needful  food 
for  the  growing  crop.  Things  then  improved  ;  yet  often 
there  was  disappointment,  especially  in  a  rainy  season. 
Then  came  the  discovery  and  appreciation  of  the  third 
great  condition  of  profitable  farming,  —  the  draining, 
subsoil  ploughing,  etc. ;  in  short,  the  preparation  of  the 
land,  so  that  the  good  seed  might  not  be  killed,  and  the 
costly  manure  wasted,  by  the  cold  and  wet  of  undrained 
fields.  The  failure  was,  in  strictness,  only  as  to  the 
realization  of  the  false  and  foolish  expectation;  for  the 
objective  fact  illustrates  the  success  of  a  partial  agencj^, 
operating  without  those  correlative  conditions  which 
make  up  the  complement  of  the  science  of  agriculture. 
The  application  of  this  histoiy  to  the  temperance 
question  will  be  evident ;  for  it,  too,  has  its  stages  of 
development,  and  its  complementary  conditions,  jointly 
needful  to  complete  and  eventual  success.  We  shall 
deduce  these  conditions  from  an  analysis  of  the  causes 
of  intemperance,  but  now  simply  indicate  them  as,  — 

"  SPECIAL    EDUCATION,    ASSOCIATED  EXAMPLE,    and   LEGAL 
PROHIBITION." 

170.  A  preliminary  objection  must  be  met.  Some 
writers  have  supposed  that  the  extensive  use  of  strong- 
drinks  proves  that  mankind  have  a  natural  instinct  for 
them ;  and  in  that  case  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to  ex- 

Wlmt  application  is  made  to  temperance  ? 

170.  What  objection  is  urged,  which,  if  true,  would  render  the  temperance 
enterprise  hopeless  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  273 

tirpate  their  use.  We  cannot  fight  successfully  against 
nature.  There  is,  however,  no  just  ground  for  the  idea. 
As  Dr.  Rees  long  ago  observed,*  "  The  propensity  for 
strong  drinks  seems  explicable  upon  the  general  princi 
ple  that  all  animals  feel  a  pleasure  in  living  faster,  or, 
as  it  were,  crowding  a  greater  portion  of  existence  into 
a  shorter  space  than  natural ;  an  effect,  in  some  degree, 
produced  by  the  exciting  qualities  of  such  liquors." 
Nature  has  given  no  intoxicating  drink,  and  can,  there 
fore,  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  provided  a  specific  in 
stinct  for  it ;  for  where  the  infant  has  the  instinct  for 
aliment,  it  at  once  detects  and  seizes  the  supply  pro 
vided  at  the  maternal  fountain.  Not  only  would  the 
argument  prove  with  equal  logic  that  sin  was  natural 
because  it  is  universal,  but  it  would  prove  the  natural 
ness  of  the  most  morbid  tastes  and  abominable  customs. 
Some  years  ago  the  "  New  York  Herald"  published  an 
account  of  certain  snuff-circles  established  amongst  the 
fashionable  ladies  of  New  York  ;  but  it  would  be  as  rank 
folly  to  infer  that,  therefore,  they  were  specially  born 
with  an  instinct  for  eating  snuff,  as  that  the  Chinese 
consume  opium  by  virtue  of  a  natural  impulse.  The 
truth  is,  that  such  an  appetite  is  never  manifested  in 
temperance  families,  but  a  very  sensible  disgust  to  the 
artificial  drinks  is  experienced.  Observant  men  have 
always  noted  this.  "  I  fear,"  said  Geddes,  in  Scott's 
"  Redgauntlet,"  "  it  were  no  such  easy  matter  to  relieve 
thy  acquired  and  artificial  drought"  (ch.  xii.)  ;  and  in 
"  The  Strange  Story,"  Sir  Bulwer  Lytton  remarks,  "  No 

*  "  Cyclopaedia,"  London,  1819. 


Show  the  folly  of  the  objection.  What  is  the  true  origin  of  the  love  of  drink  ? 
18 


274  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEKANCE. 

healthful  child  likes  alcohols  ;  no  animal,  except  man> 
prefers  wine  to  water."  The  missionary,  J.  L.  Wilson, 
in  his  work  on  Western  Africa  (1854),  says  :  — 

"  The  Banaka  people,  on  the  Gabun  coast,  are  sufferers  from 
European  intercourse.  Foreign  vessels  had  no  trade  with 
them  until  within  the  last  fifteen  years.  Previous  to  that  time 
they  had  no  relish  for  spirits,  and  it  icas  with  difficulty  any  of 
them  could  be  induced  to  taste  of  it  in  the  first  instance.  But  those 
days  of  happy  ignorance  are  gone ;  the  taste  has  been  acquired) 
and  nowhere  is  rum  now  in  greater  demand." 

On  this  we  need  only  observe,  that  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  inducing  a  small  child  to  drain  its  mother's  milk ; 
instinct  manifests  its  tendencies  and  tastes  at  once, 
whereas  abnormal  appetites  grow  only  with  gratification 
and  what  they  feed  on.  Our  conclusion  is,  that  the 
appetite  for  opium,  alcohol,  and  tobacco,  is  a  pure  per 
version  of  nature,  for  which  man,  the  sinner,  is  account 
able,  and  not  God,  the  wise  creator. 

171.  In  the  3rear  1834,  the  intelligent  and  patriotic 
member  for  Sheffield,  Mr.  James  Silk  Buckingham, 
moved  in  the  British  House  of  Commons,  for  a  com 
mittee  of  inquiry  into  the  causes,  extent,  and  conse 
quences  of  drunkenness.  Half  in  joke,  and  half  in 
ignorance,  the  motion  "  was  opposed  on  the  ground  of 
the  cost  and  trouble  being  needless,  seeing  that  the 
cause  of  drunkenness  was  so  plain  and  palpable, — 
namely,  drinking!"  The  committee,  however,  was 
granted,  and  ultimately  published  a  valuable  body  of 
evidence,  and  a  report  recommending  a  series  of  excel- 


171.  What  famous  inquiry  was  moved  for  in  1S34?     What  is  the  real 
question  as  to  drinking? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPEUAXCE.  275 

lent  measures,  which  remain  to  be  applied  by  a 
wiser  parliament  than  Dritaia  has  yet  seen.  That 
''chinking  intoxicants  is  the  cause  of  drunkenness/' 
whether  we  mean  the  temporary  state  or  the  abiding 
appetite,  is  little  more  than  a  truism,  and,  therefore,  of 
no  practical  value  for  our  present  purpose.  If  a  con 
gress  of  mea  were  met  to  consider  how  the  crime  of 
arson,  or  rick-burning,  prevailing  in  a  country,  was  to 
be  stopped,  he  would  be  regarded  as  anything  but  a 
statesman  who  should  announce  that  "  the  property  of 
matches  to  ignite,  and  that  of  wood  and  straw  to  burn, 
was  the  cause  of  arson ! "  He  would  be  immediately 
asked  why  men  used  these  properties  to  effect  the  end, 
—  in  other  words,  what  induced  this  criminal  condition 
of  mind  which  issued  ia  such  criminal  actions? 

The  reformer  who  is  bent  on  the  removal  of  a  great 
evil  must  not  only  know  the  proximate,  or  immediate 
cause  of  its  existence,  but  THE  CAUSE  OF  THAT  CAUSE,  — 
the  ultimate  foundation  on  which  the  evil  rests. 

172.  It  is  obvious  enough,  that,  if  nobody  drank 
liquors  that  intoxicate,  nobody  could  get  drunk  with 
them ;  but  it  is  equally  clear,  that  to  prevent  persons 
from  drinking,  you  must  go  back  to  the  reasons  and  mo 
tives  which  induce  them  to  drink.  A  philosophical  in 
quiry  into  this  subject  must,  therefore,  go  behiad  and 
beneath  the  superficial  truism,  —  must  begin  with  the 
moving  cause  of  action  in  the  subjective  nature,  and  the 
essential  relations  of  the  human  soul.  The  first  inquiry 
really  is,  —  the  inquiry  which  alone  touches  the  primal 


172.  Why  do  men  drink?    To  what  two  sources  must  all  action  be  re 
ferred? 


27G  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

cause  of  those  steps  and  consequences  which  terminate 
in  drunkenness, —  Why  do  men  drink? 

People  generally,  were  they  honest  and  perfectly  sin 
cere,  would  have  to  reply,  "  We  drink  because  drink 
ing  is  pleasant;"  or,  "Because  it  is  the  fashion  to 
drink  ;  "  and,  perhaps,  the  next  best  thing  to  not  drink 
ing  at  all  is  not  to  drink  on  false  pretences.  Still  this 
explanation  does  not  fathom  the  causation  of  the  phe 
nomenon,  since,  very  clearly,  the  custom  rests  upon  some 
antecedent  motive  which  first  established  it,  while  the 
"liking "now  generated  must  be  regarded  as  a  conse 
quence,  rather  than  the  original  cause  of  drinking.  The 
inquiry  does  not  so  much  concern  the  present  motive  for 
drinking  now,  as  the  original  reason  for  beginning  to 
drink.  What,  then,  is  the  great  cause  why  individual 
men  BEGIN  to  use  intoxicating  drink?  The  explanation 
must  be  referred  to  one  of  the  two  parts  of  our  double 
nature,  —  the  head  or  heart;  or  to  forsake  the  figure  for 
the  literal  fact,  either  to  a  "  reason"  or  belief  in  our  IN 
TELLIGENCE,  or  to  an  emotion  or  FEELING  in  our  sentient 
and  psychological  nature. 

173.  A  love  of  "pleasure,"  and  a  dislike  to  "pain," 
are  instinctive  conditions  of  human  nature.  Whatever 
promises  the  one,  or  offers  relief  from  the  other,  is 
eagerly  seized,  and  becomes  a  SOLICITING,  often  a  seduc 
ing,  motive  of  action.  Against  mere  impulses  of  this 
kind,  we  have  an  interior  set-off  of  higher  principles, — 
a  desire  for  good,  as  good,  —  and  aspirations  after  the 
true,  the  right,  the  beautiful,  the  pure.  These  are  in- 


173.  What  are  the  t\vo  instinctive  conditions  of  human  action  ?    What 
duties  of  society  follow  from  those  conditions  ? 


TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE.  277 

nato  elements  of  our  proper  being  ;  designed  to  instruct 
and  influence  our  will,  and  to  curb  and  control  the 
action  of  the  inferior  impulses.  The  question  as  to  what 
physical  conditions  and  agencies  promote  or  retard  the 
harmony  of  these  varying,  and  possibly  conflicting, 
powers,  —  exciting  the  one  or  repressing  the  other, — 
becomes,  therefore,  a  point  of  high  ethical  importance. 
Man,  like  any  other  vital  organism,  can  only  grow 
according  to  the  conditions  by  which  he  is  surrounded. 
Take,  for  example,  a  person  who  lives  and  works  amidst 
depressing  and  unwholesome  agencies.  The  instinct 
for  "  pleasure,"  combined  with  the  feeling  of  "  depres 
sion,"  becomes  relatively  stronger  to  him  than  if  lie  were 
more  happily  placed ;  and  the  grog-shop  and  beer- 
saloon,  consequently,  present  a  temptation  which  oper 
ates  with  greater  intensity  on  him  than  if  he  had  no 
"  relief"  from  a  morbid  monotony  of  life  to  seek,  or  had 
the  perception  of  higher  duties,  and  the  capacity  and 
opportunity  for  purer  enjoyments.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
prime  and  principal  business  of  man  in  society,  first,  to 
prohibit  all  avoidable  evil,  and  second,  to  create  those 
normal  conditions  upon  which  human  nature  is  depend 
ent  for  its  true  development,  —  in  short,  the  office  of 
government  is  to  make  it  easy  to  do  right,  and  hard  to 
do  wrong.  How  do  these  principles  of  human  action 
stand  related  to  the  drinking  system?  In  the  first  place, 
drink  promises  good  —  benefits  of  several  kinds  —  to  all 
those  who  think  it  good.  In  the  second,  it  is  a  known 
means  of  pleasure,  and  pleasure  is  not  only  inviting, 
but,  in  proper  degree  and  circumstance,  legitimate.  In 
the  third  place,  strong  drink,  like  other  narcotics,  pre 
sents  a  ready  means  of  relief  to  any  feeling  of  depres- 


278  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

sion,  discomfort,  or  care,  —  whether  connected  with  mind 
or  body.  So  far,  therefore,  as  these  relations  are  con 
cerned  as  original  causes  of  drinking,  the  temperance 
reformer  has  a  corresponding  duty  to  discharge  :  — 

1st.  To  dissipate  the  delusion  as  to  the  excellence  of 
the  drink  itself. 

2d.  To  point  out  the  danger  of  the  drink,  and  to  show 
that  the  drinker  "  pays  too  dear  for  his  whistle." 

3d.  To  promote  the  institution  of  those  physical, 
educational,  sanitary,  and  social  conditions  which  are 
the  conservators  oj  temperance,  and  the  absence  of 
which  tends  to  the  degradation  of  humanity. 

174.  An  advocacy  of  temperance  on  mere  "  expedi 
ency,"  it  is  plain,  can  never  touch  the  first  great  cause 
of  drinking  in  the  world  at  large,  or  operate  for  any 
length  of  time ;  all  fallacies  and  shams  are  sooner  or 
later  found  out ;  for  the  intellect  of  man  is,  in  the  long 
run,  sternly  logical.  If  drinking  be  the  cause  of  drunk 
enness,  then  the  curse  can  be  destroyed  ONLY  by  the 
abandonment  of  drinking.  But  WILL  the  world  give  up 
drink,  so  long  as  it  is  persuaded  that  it  is  "good"? 
As  Selden  sagaciously  observed  long  ago  (1620)  :  "  It 
seems  the  greatest  accusation  upon  the  Maker  of  all 
good  things.  If  they  be  not  to  be  used,  why  did  God 
make  them?"  The  expediency  man  has  no  sufficient 
answer. 

The  first  duty  of  temperance  societies  is,  therefore, 
to  explode  this  error,  —  to  teach,  by  press  and  platform, 
by  example  and  organization,  that  alcohol  is  not  food 


Name  three  corresponding  duties  of  temperance  men. 

172.  Why  must  "expediency"  fail?     Give  Selden'a  remark. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  270 

but  poison,  not  good  but  evil.  It  is  especially  impor 
tant  to  teach  this  to  our  young,  —  our  "  Bands  of 
Hope."  The  Rev.  "W.  Jones,  in  his  celebrated  letters 
(1760),  has  well  put  the  case  :  — 

"It  will  be  too  late  to  persuade,  when  the  judgment  is  de 
praved  and  weakened  by  ill  habits.  Gulosus  was  a  country 
gentleman  of  good  parts,  friendly  disposition,  and  agreeable 
conversation.  He  was  naturally  of  a  strong  constitution  and 
might  have  lasted  to  a  good  old  age,  but  he  is  gone  before  his 
time,  THROUGH  AN  ERROR  IN  OPINION,  which  has  destroyed 
more  than  the  sword.  He  asked  a  friend,  a  valetudinarian, 
how  much  port  a  man  might  drink  without  hurting  himself; 
who  gave  it,  as  his  private  opinion,  that  &pint  in  a  day  was 
more  than  would  do  any  man  good.  'There,'  says  he,  'you 
and  I  differ;  for  I  am  convinced  that  one  bottle  after  dinner 
will  never  hurt  any  man  —  that  uses  exercise.'  Under  this  per 
suasion,  in  eating  and  drinking  as  much  as  he  could,  his  life 
was  a  continual  struggle  between  fulness  and  physic,  till  nature 
was  wearied  out,  and  he  sank  all  at  once  at  the  age  of  forty, 
under  the  stroke  of  apoplexy.  The  time  hath  come  upon  many 
great  nations,  when  ill-principles  and  self-indulgence,  and  that 
infatuation  which  is  the  natural  consequence  of  both,  have 
brought  them  to  ruin." 

In  Britain,  at  least,  all  the  highest  authorities  in 
medical  science  are  now  upholding  the  temperance 
platform,  —  such  is  the  resistless  might  of  truth.  Dr. 
W.  B.  Richardson,  F.R.S.,  in  lecturing  on  December  15, 
1868,  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Hull,  asked  :  — 

"  What  is  alcohol?  Is  it  food  or  poison?  or  is  it  something 
like  chloroform,  or  ether,  —  simply  a  sleep-producing  agent? 


Give  Jones'  illustration.    Give  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Tlichardson. 


280  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

There  were  many  theories  as  to  the  causes  of  the  physiologi 
cal  action  of  the  spirit.  First,  increased  combustion ;  next, 
arrest  of  combustion;  and  next,  increased  tension.  This  was 
a  solemn  subject.  The  primary  effects  might  go  through  their 
series  of  stages  in  a  youthful  subject,  who  had  rashly  become, 
intoxicated  for  the  first  time,  and  leave  him  comparatively  un 
injured,  but  the  continued  use  of  alcohol  was  merciless,  in  that  it 
left,  no  important  part  of  the  body  uninjured.  The  brain  under 
went  changes  even  in  its  structure,  and  symptoms  of  imbecil 
ity,  of  melancholia,  of  mania,  and  of  paralysis,  were  often 
the  result  of  its  action.  The  vast  majority  of  patients  in  the 
asylums  who  suffered  from  acute  or  intermittent  mania,  with 
a  measure  of  paralysis,  were  cases  of  alcoholic  production- 
There  was  also  a,  peculiar  condition  of  the  lung  produced  by  al 
cohol.  It  occurred  to  him  to  first  point  this  out,  and  the  dis 
ease  was  well  known  as  drunkard's  consumption.  Then  there 
were  peculiar  changes  occurring  in  the  glandular  organs;  in 
the  liver,  for  instance,  changes  of  induration.  These  came  on 
mainly  by  drinking  spirits,  especially  when  consumed  neat. 

"Alcohol,  in  the  shape  of  malt  liquors,  produced  a  strange 
change  of  structure  in  the  muscles,  by  which  they  became  weak. 
The  heart  especially  was  affected,  and  dropsy  and  early  death 
was  the  result.  On  these  accounts  the  prisoner  at  the  bar 
could  not  possibly  receive  any  mercy.  lie  had  been  asked  his 
opinion  with  regard  to  the  value  of  alcohol  in  disease.  He 
regretted  to  say  that  he  knew  of  no  distinct  series  of  observa 
tions  made  with  what  was  known  to  be  etli3Tlic  alcohol.  They 
would  have  heard  of  alcohol  being  recommended  in  fevers  in 
the  form  of  wine,  brandy,  and  sometimes  other  spirits;  but, 
in  truth,  there  was  no  evidence  as  to  the  quality  of  these  agents.* 
But  as  to  the  general  use  of  alcohol  in  disease,  he  was  quite 
open  to  say,  that  every  form  of  disease  would  be  better  treated 
itilhout  alcohol  than  with  it.  It  was  not  more  essential  to  the 
existence  of  animal  life  than  to  the  existence  of  anything  else 
which  was  put  in  motion  by  some  other  force.  The  use  of 
alcohol  was  simply  the  result  of  our  own  free  will :  we  took 
it  as  a  luxury.  He  should  not  expect  the  use  of  alcohol  to  bo 

*  See  §  86. 


TEXT-BOOK    OF    TEMPERANCE.  281 

abandoned  until  the  reason  which  was  given  to  us  had  become 
more  highly  developed;  then  those  things  which  were  hurtful 
and  injurious  we  should  gradually  eliminate  from  our  lives." 

Dr.  King,  the  president  of  the  society,  "  thought  the 
smaller  the  dose  the  better,  and  it  ought  to  be  disused 
as  soon  as  the  physiological  changes  were  produced." 
Dr.  Munroe  quoted  the  crucial  fact,  "  that  in  hospitals 
where  the  largest  amount  of  alcohol  was  used,  there  was 
the  greatest  percentage  of  deaths." 

175.  Secondly,  we  must  teach  the  seductiveness  and 
clanger  of  drinking ;  the   folly  of  exposing  one's  self 
to  grave  risks  for  the  sake  of  transient  pleasures  which 
leave  a  sting  behind.     The  fact  can  hardly  be  denied, 
for  even  the  "  Westminster  Review"  has  admitted  that 
"  alcohol  is  a  dangerous  and  tricksy  spirit,"  and  that 
"  Moderation  oils  the  hinges  of  excess,"  — a  figurative 
style  of  expressing  a  deep  physiological  truth.     Nay, 
Thackeray  himself,  in  his  "  Virginians,"  is  compelled  to 
declare  the  truth  "  in  the  face  of  all  the  pumps  !  " 

"  There  is  a  moment  in  a  bout  of  good  wine,  at  which,  if  a 
man  could  but  remain,  wit,  wisdom,  courage,  generosity,  elo 
quence,  happiness,  were  his;  but  the  moment  passes,  and 
that  other  glass  somehow  spoils  the  state  of  beatitude"  Truly, 
"  wine  is  a  mocker." 

176.  Tliirdly,  temperance    reformers  must  be  some 
thing  more  than  sectarians.    They  must  be  general  edu- 


Give  the  testimony  of  Dr.  King.    Of  Dr.  Munroe. 

175.  What  is  the  second  subject  that  must  be  taught  concerning  Alcohol  ? 
Give  the  description  of  its  deceptiveness,  from  the  "  Westminster  Review," 
and  a  celebrated  satirist,  himself  a  victim. 


282  TEXT-BOOK    OF   TEMPERANCE. 

cators,  physiologists,  sanitary  teachers,  politicians,  pa 
triots, —  and  they  must  supplement  their  moral  suasion 
and  example  by  appropriate  social  action.  If  abstainers 
could  but  take  comprehensive  views  of  their  mission  and 
their  work,  and  band  themselves  together  on  a  broad  and 
deep  principle  of  ORGANIZATION,  their  influence  on  the 
world  of  thought,  of  fashion,  and  of  politics,  would  be 
irresistible. 

But  temperance  organization  is  as  impossible  with 
out  a  principle,  a  pledge,  a  banner,  or  a  bond,  as  a 
political  party  without  a  "platform,"  an  army  without  a 
captain,  or  a  church  without  a  discipline  and  a  faith. 
Hence  the  absurdity  of  objections  to  pledges.  All  life  is 
a  pledge,  or  manifestation,  —  the  revealing  of  the  inner 
quality  by  the  outer  form.  Dean  South,  commenting  on 
the  apostolic  injunction,  "  Show  me  thy  faith  by  thy 
works"  (James  ii.  18),  very  wisely  and  wittily  ob 
serves  :  "  Every  action  being  the  most  lively  portraiture 
and  impartial  expression  of  its  efficient  principle,  as  the 
complexion  is  the  best  comment  upon  the  constitution. 
When  a  man's  piety  shrinks  only  to  his  intention, — 
when  he  tells  me  his  heart  is  right  with  God  while  his 
hand  is  in  my  pocket,  —  he  upbraids  my  reason,  and  out 
faces  the  common  principles  of  natural  discourse  with  an 
impudence  equal  to  the  absurdity.  He  who  places  his 
Christianity  only  in  his  heart,  and  his  religion  in  his 
meaning,  has  fairly  secured  himself  against  a  discovery 
in  case  he  should  have  none.  Those,  in  a  very  ill  and 
untoward  sense,  verify  that  philosophical  maxim,  that 


176.  What  is  the  third  step  ?  On  what  can  organization  be  founded  ?  Give 
Dean  South'a  answer  to  the  objection  against  expressing  what  is  in  us. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  283 

what  they  so  much  pretend  to  be  chief  and  first 'in  their 
intention  is  always  last,  if  at  all,  in  the  execution."* 

A  temperance  pledge  has  manifold  virtues  and  mean 
ings,  and  has  been  amply  justified  by  its  fruits.  It  is, 
(1)  the  expression  of  a  conviction  or  truth  ;  (2)  the  dec 
laration  of  a  purpose  ;  (3)  the  utterance  of  a  protest; 
and,  therefore  (4),  a  bond  of  sympathetic  union  or  co 
operation. 

177.  The  perception  of  the  fact  that  an  opinion  of  the 
excellency  of  the  drink  was  the  first  cause  of  drinking, 
as  drinking  was  the  proximate  cause  of  drunkenness,  led 
many  of  the  early  temperance  men  to  place  too  much  re 
liance  upon  the  proclamation  of  personal  abstinence. 
The  leaders  of  the  reformation,  however,  never  fell  into 
this  fallacy  of  a  partial  remedy  ;  it  was  confined  entirely 
to  the  secondary,  compromising  men,  and  to  certain 
earnest  but  somewhat  narrow-minded  disciples,  with 
whom  the  personal  pledge  of  abstinence  was  everything. 
Thus  one  party  ignorantly  held  that  abstinence  was  all 
that  was  needed,  and  the  other  tenaciously  maintained 
that  it  was  all  that  could  prudently  be  adopted.  Hence 
in  Britain  arose  the  battle  of  the  pledges,  —  finally  de 
cided  in  Exeter  Hall  against  the  short  pledge,  in  favor 
of  the  long  pledge,  discountenancing  all  the  causes  of  in 
temperance.  Short-sighted  people  imagined  those  dis 
cussions,  like  many  others,  were  not  only  unnecessary, 
but  injurious  ;  but  we  who  survey  the  past  from  the  im 
partial  future  can  now  clearly  see  that  the  contest  was 

*  "  Sermons."    Oxford,  1698. 
What  are  the  four  attributes  or  elements  of  the  temperance  pledge  ? 


284  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

a  necessity  in  the  development  of  the  permanent  philos 
ophy  of  the  enterprise.  The  attack  on  custom  was  the 
second  great  practical  step, —  the  application  of  the  sec 
ond  great  remedial  agency  for  extirpating  the  vice  of 
the  civilized  world.  The  "  Times,"  in  an  article  on  the 
temperance  question,  justly  pointed  out  the  cardinal  im 
portance  of  "  abstinence,'"'  and  "  sympathy."*  The  first, 
so  far  as  it  can  be  carried  out,  at  once  excludes  temptation 
to  drink,  and  keeps  in  abeyance  that  appetite  which, 
once  roused,  is  uncontrollable,  even  in  men  of  strono* 
wills  and  robust  natures.  The  great  Dr.  Samuel  John 
son,  who  declared  that  "  abstinence  was  easy,  modera 
tion  impossible,"  is  the  type  of  a  large  class  of  our  fel 
low-creatures.  The  pledge,  therefore,  is  to  such  a  moral 
punctum, —  a  pivot  upon  which  their  will  easily  and 
safely  turns.  As  the  "  Times  "  declares,  "  in  some  cases  " 
—  it  might  say,  ten  thousands  of  cases  —  "it  had  com 
plete  success  ;  the  devil  was  fairly  cheated  ;  the  victim 
was  enabled,  by  means  of  the  aid  given  to  his  will  in  the 
.abstinence  he  promised,  to  rise  to  a  higher  moral  level,  upon 
which  he  then  advanced  to  permanent  (or  habitual)  ab 
stinence."  Associated  pledging  also  increased  sym 
pathy,  and  communicated  power  to  the  infirm.  Never- 


*  This  "  sympathy  "  may  be  more  distinctly  analyzed.  The  power  of  fash 
ion  rests  on  three  principles  of  human  nature.  First,  instinct  of  imitation. 
second,  love  of  apj)robation.  Third,  fear  of  reprobation.  Which  last  is 
the  result,  partly,  of  the  second  principle  being  too  strong,  and  of  self-esteem 
being  too  weak.  It  is  the  business  of  reason  and  conscience  to  subordinate 
those  feelings  to  the  rule  of  right. 


177.  What  was  the  second  great  practical  step  in  the  movement  ?  What 
does  "  sympathy  "  include  ?  What  was  the  working  of  a  rule  (or  pledge)  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Johnson  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  285 

theless,  it  was  a  partial  and  imperfect  application.  It 
virtually  ignored  an  antagonist  sympathy  counteracting 
itself.  Wh}r,  for  instance,  should  we  together  pledge  to 
abstain  from  drinking  ourselves,  and  not  together  pledge 
ourselves  to  discountenance  drinking  in  others?  If  we 
influence  each  other,  it  is  equally  clear  that  others  must 
influence  us  ;  and  consequent!}^  if  a  pledge  of  abstinence 
breaks  the  power  for  evil  in  one  direction,  it  must  be 
equally  necessary  and  effectual  in  another. 

178.  The  short  pledge  very  obviously  meets  but  one 
cause  of  drinking  ;  wields  but  one  arm  of  social  S3^mpa- 
thy.  Hence  the  importance  of  a  correct,  complete,  and 
consistent  pledge.  The  action  which  we  take  against 
the  enemjr  must  be  as  broad  as  the  basis  of  his  own 
operations.  We  must  outflank  the  forces  of  intemper 
ance  before  we  can  rationally  expect  to  conquer.  This 
truth  was  early  perceived  by  Mr.  Dunlop,  and  ably  ex 
pounded  in  his  work  on  "  The  Drinking  Usages."  He 
pointed  out  the  adverse  influence  of  some  hundreds  of 
usages,  penetrating  and  permeating  every  vocation  of 
life,  and  entrenched  in  almost  ever}''  place,  from  church 
and  mansion  to  the  meanest  cottage  and  the  humblest 
workshop.  He  insisted  upon  the  fact,  that  customs 
were  amongst  the  most  potent  and  practical  of  all  teach 
ings,  since  they  address  themselves  to  the  instinctive,  the 
imitative,  and  the  active  powers  of  man.  He  finally  de 
clared,  with  just  emphasis,  that  UNLESS  TEETOTALISM 

ABOLISHED  THE  DRINKING  USAGES,  THE  DllINKING  UfiAGES 
WOULD  IN  THE  END  ABOLISH  TEETOTALISM.  It  Was  tllOSC 


178.  What  is  the  defect  of  the  short  pledge  ?    What  is  the  true  plan  of 
battle  ?    What  did  Mr.  John  Duulop  teach  as  to  usage  ? 


286  TEXT-BOOK   CF   TEMPERANCE. 

considerations  which  finally  compelled  to  the  general  ado/- 
tion  of  the  long  pledge,  which  involves,  not  only  a  declara 
tion  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  beverages,  but 
a  promise  not  to  give,  offer,  or  provide  them  ;  and  to  dis 
countenance,  in  every  proper  way,  all  the  direct  causes  of 
intemperance.  No  doubt  much  has  been  achieved  by  this 
social  protest,  imperfect  as  it  has  been.  It  has  de 
stroyed  the  despotism,  if  it  has  not  abolished  the  tyrann}', 
of  drinking  customs.  Even  at  royal  and  lordly  tables, 
men  endowed  with  moderate  wills  may  now  practise 
abstinence  with  comparative  ease ;  and  history  will  yet 
rank  this  work  of  liberation  from  the  depotism  of  social 
custom  amongst  the  most  signal  revolutions  of  the 
nineteenth  centuiy. 

179.  The  enormous  power  of  custom  and  fashion  has 
perhaps  never  yet  been  duly  estimated  by  the  bulk  of 
temperance  reformers.  It  is  not  only  that  which  induces 
many  to  begin  to  drink,  and  to  continue  drinking, — 
many  who  have  no  faith  in  the  virtue,  and  many  who 
even  strongly  suspect  the  evil,  of  the  drink,  —  it  is  that 
which  surely  antagonizes,  by  silently  undermining,  the 
reformation.  Dr  Beddoes  *  puts  the  case  strongly,  but 
truly,  when  he  says  that  "  crimes  of  moderate  magnitude 
do  not  excite  so  much  repugnance  as  an  oversight  in  any 
of  the  minutiw  of  fashion."  Who,  indeed,  can  bear  to  be 
stigmatized  as  "  ungenteel  "  or  "  vulgar  "  ?  To  bear  that 
for  conscience'  sake  —  resolutely  to  ignore  what  Mrs. 
Grundy  may  say  —  is  the  very  height  of  heroism,  though 

*  "  Hygeia,"  1802. 

179.  What  are  the  two  great  social  antagonists  of  temperance  ?    Give  Dr. 
Bcddoes'  words,  and  explain  the  nature  of  the  tyranny. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  287 

it  may  not  wear  the  "  crown."  Fashion  is  a  kind  of 
slavery,  wherein  there  is  no  slave-master ;  but  all  the 
men  and  women  are  the  mutual  slaves  of  their  adopted 
notions.  A  dandy  or  dandizette,  an  idiot  beau  or  belle, 
may  set  the  fashion,  which  king,  lords,  and  commons 
will  servilely  follow,  till  some  new  idol  or  fresh  whim 
displaces  the  old  one.  Fortunately,  one  can  see  that 
fashion  and  custom  are  powers  which  can  be  turned 
against  themselves.  When  bad  customs  conspire  to 
tyrannize  over  men's  better  knowledge  and  purer  aspi 
rations,  it  is  the  duty  of  good  men  to  combine  and  estab 
lish  COUNTER-CUSTOMS,  and  to  make  them  honored  and 
respected  by  their  own  virtue.  This  custom,  as  Bacon 
says,  must  be  "copulate  and  collegiate"  for  "  the  great 
multiplication  of  virtues  upon  human  nature  RESTETH 

UPON  SOCIETIES  WELL  ORDAINED." 

180.  By  this,  however,  is  meant  something  more  com 
plex  and  compact  than  the  pomp  and  show,  on  which 
the  "  Times  "  insists  in  the  following  significant  pas 
sage  :  — 

"  It  is  a  known  fact  that  men  can  do  together  and  in  company 
what  they  cannot  do  by  themselves.  We  may  call  this  the 
effect  of  imagination,  but,  if  it  is,  then  all  we  can  say  is,  that 
imagination  is  a  great  thing  in  morals,  and  we  should  advise 
you  to  make  friends  with  it  as  much  as  you  can.  Imagination, 
indeed,  does  wonders  in  this  way.  Who  could  possibly  stand 
for  one  hour  to  be  shot  at  by  himself?  The  trial  would  be  too 
great  for  human  courage,  and  long  before  half  the  time  was 
out,  it  would  occur,  and  we  must  think  very  naturally  and 


How  must  custom  be  met  ? 

180.  Give  the  gist  of  the  "  limes' "  doctrine  as  to  sympathy  ami  organiza 
tion. 


288  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

justly,  to  our  isolated  target,  that  this  was  not  the  sort  of 
trial  that  human  nature  was  intended  to  submit  to ;  that  we  are 
intended  to  rough  it  in  many  ways,  and  take  our  chance,  but 
that  this  sort  of  discipline  was  extra-providential,  and  formed  no 
part  of  our  allotted  probation.  .  .  But  put  ilfty  men  in  a 
row,  with  fifty  men  behind  them,  and  another  fifty  men  behind 
these,  and  they  will  stand  to  be  shot  at  a  whole  day.  The  sol 
dier  depends  entirely  on  sympathy,  on  the  sensation  that  he  is 
in  company,  on  the  fellow-feeling  created  by  the  consciousness 
of  the  same  danger,  for  his  power  to  go  through  the  awful 
scenes  in  which  he  is  placed.  But  this  principle  does  not  apply 
to  courage  only.  Anything  that  is  difficult  to  do,  any  exertion  of 
resolution,  any  kind  of  self-denial,  is  made  easier  by  the  aid  of 
sympathy,  by  knowing  thai  other  persons  are  doing  the  same  thing 
that  you  are.  The  temperance  movement,  accordingly,  made 
large  use  of  this  principle.  There  was  much  tact,  and  knowl 
edge  of  human  nature,  in  its  policy.  It  made  a  great  parade  of 
the  work  of  reformation,  a  grand  show  or  pomp  of  it.  There 
were  meetings,  inaugurations,  ceremonials,  with  banners,  trumpets, 
and  drums,  colors  flying,  shouts  rending  the  air,  speeches,  and 
processions.  All  this  was  in  order  to  bring  the  task  of  reforma 
tion  out  of  its  clamp,  dark,  and  dreadful  cavern  in  the  solitary 
human  heart,  where  the  torturing  demon  sits  amid  coiled 
snakes  and  scorpions,  hissing  hydras,  gorgons,  and  chimeras 
dire,  into  the  open  air  and  open  light  of  day,  to  set  men  to 
work  upon  it  together  and  in  crowds,  and  give  them  the  sensa 
tion  of  only  doing  what  numbers  were  doing  all  around  them. 
That  was  a  great  step  gained.  The  old  proverb  of  omne 
ignolum  pro  terribili*  applies  especially  to  a  new  piece  of  self- 
denial  ;  it  is  dreaded  not  only  as  being  something  disagreeable, 
but  because  the  kind  of  disagreeable  which  it  is  is  unknown. 
A  drunkard  has  known  what  it  is  to  go  without  drink  when  he 
was  in  his  natural  state,  but  he  does  not  know  what  it  is  to  go 
without  it  when  he  has  got  used  to  it.  He  dreads  this  unknown 
pain  as  a  child  is  afraid  of  being  in  the  dark.  Then  bring  him 
and  others  in  the  same  case  together ;  make  reformation  a  social^ 

*  That  is  frightful  which  is  unknown. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  289 

open,  large,  multitudinous  thing,  and  you  deprive  it  of  half  its  diffi 
culty.  It  is  then  no  longer  a  number  of  scattered  wretches, 
each  in  his  own  hole  and  corner,  trembling  at  the  bare  idea  of 
a  single  encounter  with  duty;  but  it  is  a  crowd  of  men  who  are 
working  together,  and  dividing,  as  it  were,  the  pain  and  burden 
among  them.  These  are  the  only  two  *  great  aids  that  have  been 
as  yet  discovered  for  easing  the  return  of  the  drunkard  to 
sobriety.  They  have  in  their  day,  and  at  intervals,  done  a  good 
deal." 

181.  We  would  particularly  guard  against  mistaking 
the  pomp  of  badges,  banners,  and  regalia  for  the  true 
power  which  they  ought  to  symbolize.  BADGES  —  if 
simple,  chaste,  and  unobtrusive  —  are  very  well  and  ap 
propriate  ;  but  the  real  question  concerns  their  distribution 
and  their  significance, — the  duties  they  indicate,  the 
trained  faculty  they  mark,  and  the  privileges  they  con 
fer.  It  is  an  organization  of  spirit,  not  merely  a  spirit 
of  organization,  which  is  needed ;  and  we  see  no  pros 
pect  of  achieving  great  conquests  over  fashion  in  any 
other  way.  Temperance  societies,  as  hitherto  organized, 
have  realized  no  fixed  social  and  political  influence  at 
all  adequate  to  the  just  and  intrinsic  claims  of  the  ref 
ormation.  In  fine,  it  appears  to  us  that  we  need  a 
broad  and  firm  organization  of  virtue  into  fashion,  —  an 
organization  and  machinery  of  brotherhood  and  philan 
thropy,  —  which,  by  reason  of  its  utility  and  labors,  its 
nobleness,  its  lofty  aims,  and  even  its  exdusiveness,  shall 

*  There  is  a  third  great  complementary  aid  which  we  shall  unfold  ia 
another  section.  It  is  necessary  to  pledge  ourselves  to  do  good,  but  equally 
necessary  to  remove  stumbling-blocks  out  of  the  path. 


181.  "What  are  badges  ? 
19 


290  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

irresistibly  attract  the  respect,  and  compel  the  homage, 
of  the  world.  The  true  "  sons  and  daughters  of  tem 
perance,"  who  are  awake  to  the  dignity  of  their  cause, 
to  the  holiness  of  their  mission,  and  to  the  vastness  of 
their  work,  should  constitute  themselves  into  an  ORDER 
OF  MERIT,  —  a  legion  of  honor,  —  a  sodality  "  well-or 
dained  "  within  the  loose,  atomic  aggregate  of  general 
society, — which  would  speedly  emancipate  mankind 
from  the  vulgar  fashions  of  the  drinking  system,  and  in 
augurate  a  more  beautiful  and  happier  mode  of  social 
intercourse.  The  young  and  generous,  the  aspiring  and 
broad-hearted,  the  earnest  workers  and  deep-cultured 
intellects,  now  associated  in  the  movement,  wait  to  be 
organized  into  a  PHALANX  OF  PHILANTHROPY  which  shall 
rise  above  all  sects  and  parties,  and,  inspired  with  an 
esprit  du  corps  like  that  which  animated  the  legionaries 
of  old  Rome,  shall  go  forth  to  the  conquest  and  coloniza 
tion  of  a  new  social  world,  governed  by  "  simpler  man 
ners  "  and  "  purer  laws."  * 


*  In  Britain,  so  far  back  as  1837,  a  Benefit  Society,  calling  itself  the  INDE 
PENDENT  ORDER  OF  HKCHABITES  was  formed,  which  at  one  time  rose  to 
considerable  influence,  but,  owing  to  erroneous  tables  and  indiscreet  man 
agement,  received  a  serious  check  some  years  ago.  A  similar  order,  in  1842, 
was  introduced  into  the  States,  the  chief  office  being  now  at  Utica,  New 
York. 

In  England,  at  present,  the  order  of  the  SONS  OF  TEMPERANCE  seems 
to  take  the  lead  in  popularity.  This  organization  was  established  in  1840, 
by  Messrs.  Oliver,  the  printers,  of  New  York,  to  supplement  and  uphold  the 
WASIIINGTOXIAN  movement  (§  138).  It  has  37  Grand,  and  nearly  2,000 
Subordinate  Divisions,  extending  into  twenty-five  States  and  territories, 
besides  the  British  Dominions.  During  the  past  twenty-seven  years,  it  has 


"What  kind  of  Brotherhoods  are  needed?  Xote.  —  On  the  "  Sons  of  Tem 
perance  "  and  other  secret  orders  and  benefit  societies.  State  the  peculiari 
ties  of  the  "  Templars,"  etc. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPEBANCE.  291 

182.  The  influence  of  custom,  fashion,  or  flunkeyism 
is,  indeed,  the  standing  hindrance  to  human  improve- 

numbered  over  2,000,000  of  persons,  and  is  steadily  advancing,  with  increas 
ing  force  and  swelling  ranks.  Its  entire  freedom  from  the  machinery  of 
signs,  grips,  or  degrees,  leaves  it  free  for  effective  missionary  work,  and  it 
embraces  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  moral  and  religious  elements  in  the 
land.  The  order  now  numbers  about  200,000,  exclusive  of  Great  Britain. 

In  1845,  was  organized  the  TEMPLARS  OF  HONOR  AND  TEMPERANCE.  It 
embraces  Grand  Temples,  with  subordinates,  in  twenty-one  States  of  the 
Union.  It  is  intended  as  a  higher  temperance  and  fraternal  organization, 
with  advancement  by  degrees  as  its  members  are  proved  worthy.  It  has  six 
degrees,  in  addition  to  the  initiatory,  besides  the  Social  Temple,  with  three 
degrees,  where  ladies  are  received  into  full  membership.  Its  beautiful  ritual 
and  fraternal  maxims  unite  its  members  in  a  bond  of  union  and  friendship 
not  easily  broken. 

In  1840,  the  CADETS  OF  TEMPERANCE,  for  boys,  were  organized.  It  has 
a  ritual,  passwords,  and  regalia.  About  25  sections  exist  in  New  York  State, 
and  many  in  other  States. 

In  1847,  the  GOOD  SAMARITANS  were  also  organized  in  New  York  city,— 
a  benefit  society,  and  the  first  of  the  order  to  admit  colored  citizens  to  their 
lodges.  The  society  extends  to  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  and  includes 
about  22,000  members. 

The  FRIENDS  OF  TEMPERANCE  is  an  organization  formed  in  the  Southern 
States,  composed  of  whites,  numbering  over  100  Subordinate  Councils,  lo 
cated  mostly  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  It  was  organized  by  former 
"  Sons  of  Temperance,"  who  preferred  a  Southern  organization.  Women, 
old  men,  and  children  are  admitted  as  associates. 

In  1856,  the  order  of  the  COUNCIL  OK  FRIENDS  arose  in  the  West  (Indianap 
olis),  and  now  numbers  over  300  Subordinate  Councils,  and  15,000  members. 
It  is  designed  for  the  tried  and  true,  and  admits  only  those  who  have  been  a 
member  for  one  year  previous,  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  Good  Templars, 
or  some  other  known  temperance  society.  The  initiation  fee  is  not  less 
than  five  dollars,  and  one  black  ball  rejects  a  candidate.  It  is,  therefore,  an 
aristocratic  order,  in  the  original  and  best  sense  of  that  word. 

The  KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS  OF  TEMPERANCE  is  an  order  started  in  18GO, 
as  a  side  degree  of  the  "  Good  Templars,"  but  is  now  an  entirely  indepen 
dent  organization.  Its  platform  is  prohibition,  and  it  proposes  to  operate 
through  the  ballot-box.  Its  pledge  is  for  life.  Ladies  are  admitted,  and  its 
membership  is  estimated  at  from  10,000  to  20,000. 

Last,  but  not  least,  comes  the  order  of  the  GOOD  TEMPLARS  themselves. 
This  organization  was  instituted  in  1851,  and  now  contains  32  Grand,  with 
4,000  Subordinate  Lodges,  scattered  over  29  States,  and  in  Canada,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Inland.  It  has  a  liberal  financial  basis,  is  every 
where  scattering  a  temperance  literature,  supporting  lecturers  in  the  field, 
holding  county  and  district  conventions,  aud  is  rapidly  increasing  its  numbers 


292  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPEKANCE. 

ment,  and  ought  to  be  rebuked,  ridiculed,  and  denounced 
by  every  earnest  man.  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill,  in  his  work  "  On 
Liberty,"  says :  — 

"In  our  times,  from  the  highest  class  of  society  clown  to  the 
lowest,  every  one  lives  as  under  the  eye  of  a  dreaded  censorship. 
It  does  not  occur  to  them  to  have  any  inclination  except  for 
what  is  customary.  Thus  the  mind  itself  is  bowed  to  the  yoke ; 
even  in  what  people  do  for  pleasure,  conformity  is  the  first  thing 
thought  of;  they  like  in  crowds.  Now,  is  this,  or  is  it  not,  a 
desirable  condition  of  human  nature  ?  " 

But  whence  is  the  hope  of  freedom  to  come,  save  from 
combination  on  behalf  of  freedom  ?  For  we  must  recol 
lect,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Buckle,  the  historian  of 
civilization,  that  "  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  indi 
viduals,  it  is  certain  that  the  majority  of  men  find  an 
extreme  difficulty  in  long  resisting  constant  temptation." 
Hence  the  necessity  of  those  "  organizations "  just 
sketched. 

183.  There  now  starts  up  another  question :  Whence 
the  peculiar  consequences  of  drinking  intoxicants?  It  is 
a  fallacy  to  refer  everything  to  the  law  of  habit ;  for  this 


in  almost  every  State  and  territory.  It  has  degrees,  and  methods  of  recogni 
tion.  Its  membership  is  estimated  at  nearly  half  a  million.  Its  three  de 
grees  correspond  to  the  three  conditions  of  Self  Respect,  Brotherly  Love,  and 
Loyalty  to  God.  To  build  up  such  a  "  Living  Temple  "  is  a  noble  aim. 

Finally,  the  BRITISH-AMERICAN  ORDER  OF  GOOD  TEMPLAHS  was  started 
in  1858,  at  London,  Ontario,  Canada,  and  now  numbers  200  Primary  Lodges, 
with  5,000  members.  It  acknowledges  no  supreme  head  beyond  its  own 
Grand  Lodge  officers.  The  order  is  doing  much  toward  circulating  temper 
ance  literature,  rightly  believing  that  to  be  one  of  the  most  effectual  ways 
of  reaching  the  masses  of  the  people. 


183.  What  are  the  peculiar  consequences  of  drinking  alcoholic  liquor? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  293 

is  really  ignoring,  not  explaining,  the  peculiar  facts. 
The  habit  of  smoking  paper  does  not  engender  a  passion 
for  smoking,  and  lead  to  the  continued  and  general  in 
crease  of  the  quantity  smoked.  The  habit  of  taking 
bread-pills  is  not  attended  by  the  same  kind  of  conse 
quences  as  taking  opium-pills.  Tobacco,  opium,  spirits, 
compared  with  food,  have  all  marked  peculiarities.  Dis 
gusting  at  first,, they  create  by  use  an  intense  and  irresist 
ible  craving  for  themselves,  which  "  grows  by  what  it 
feeds  on." 

Tobacco  at  first  excites  disgust  and  vertigo, — even 
insensibility  in  some.  After  a  period  of  probation  this 
effect  disappears,  and  the  smoker  finds  a  peculiar  fas 
cination  in  the  noxious  weed.  He  has  passed  through 
the  purgatory  of  disgust  to  the  paradise  of  fools,  is  the 
bond-slave  to  his  pipe ! 

So  with  opium.  It  is  not  the  habit  of  using  it,  but 
the  property  of  the  drug,  that  enslaves  the  man  to  the 
habit.  As  Awsiter  says,  in  his  "Essay"  (1763), 
"There  are  many  properties  in  it,  if  universally  known, 
that  would  habituate  the  use,  and  make  it  more  in  request 
with  us  than  the  Turks  themselves,  the  result  of  which 
knowledge  must  prove  a  general  misfortune."  Nor  is 
the  law  of  this  far  to  seek.  The  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Prac 
tical  Medicine"  observes  (1834),  "  Narcotics  lose  their 
influence  when  they  have  been  taken  daily  for  a  consid 
erable  time."  But  the  pleasure  they  excite  is  desired 
again,  and,  as  the  same  quantum  will  not  suffice,  a  larger 
is  taken ;  and  then  follows  the  collapse  of  the  system, 


Explain  the  law  as  to  opium,   What  is  the  fallacy  as  to  "  habit "  f   Show 
•what  it  means. 


294  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

attended  by  uneasiness  and  craving,  which  furnish  a 
second  and  stronger  motive  for  repeating  the  increased 
dose  or  draught.  Thus,  says  the  "  Medico-Chirurgical 
Review,"  writing  of  opium,  hashish,  etc.,  "  It  is  the  effect 
[rather  tendency]  of  all  these  narcotic  poisons,  in  com 
mon  with  alcohol,  to  cause  an  ever-increasing  desire  for 
them.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  that  everything 
that  exhausts  the  sensorial  or  motor  power,  conduces  to 
excite  this  irrepressible  desire  for  stimulants."  * 

De  Quincey  truly  remarks,  that  "  Wine  disorders 
the  mental  faculties,  unsettles  the  judgment,  constantly 
leads  a  man  to  the  brink  of  absurdity."  All  this,  by 
lessening  the  internal  controlling  power,  increases  the 
intensity  of  the  general  narcotic  law. 

Now,  as  no  man  is  born  with  an  appetite  for  such 
things ;  as  children  and  savages  at  first  reject  them 
with  abhorrence  or  disgust ;  as  the  taste  for  them  is 
slowly  raised  upon  the  ruins  of  pure  and  aboriginal  in 
stinct,  —  we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  discover  the  secret  of 

*  Hence  the  folly  of  ascribing  to  teetotalism  the  spread  of  opium-eating; 
as  if  conscientious  abstinence  from  one  narcotic  did  not  tend  to  abstinence 
from  every  other!  Mr.  De  Quincey,  in  his  "Confessions  of  an  Opium 
Eater,"  so  far  back  as  1823,  spoke  of  " an  incredible  number"  of  opium- 
eaters,  and  showed  that  the  use  of  ale  and  spirits  had  first  generated  the 
necessity  or  craving.  He  says  :  —  "  I  take  it  for  granted 

"  '  That  those  eat  now  who  never  ate  before, 

And  those  who  always  ate,  now  eat  the  mora.'  " 

So,  too,  with  alcoholic  drinks,  which  are  even  more  mocking  and  danger 
ous  than  opium,  because,  as  the  same  witness  remarks :  — 

"  The  pleasure  given  by  wine  is  always  rapidly  mounting  and  tending  to  a 
crisis,  after  which  as  rapidly  it  declines;  that  from  opium,  when  once  gen 
erated,  is  stationary  for  eight  or  ten  hours." 


Give  the  observations  of  De  Quincey. 


TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE.  295 

intemperance.  Here  is  its  proximate -cause,  —  its  truo 
etiology.  It  does  not  spring  up  native  from  the  human 
heart ;  it  has  no  relation  to  any  faculty  or  function  of 
human  nature ;  it  is  a  physical  and  moral  effect  of  a 
physical  agent,  and  of  that  alone.  The  late  Mr.  Cony- 
beare,  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  has  well  put  the 
facts :  — 

"  The  passion  for  fermented  drinks  is  not  instinctive.  A  rare 
accident  taught  some  sleepless  Arabian  chemist  —  torturing 
substance  after  substance  in  his  crucibles  and  alembics  —  how 
to  extract  the  FIERCE  SPIRIT  from  these  agreeable  drinks,  and 
brought  up,  as  it  were,  from  the  bottom  of  Pandora's  box, 
that  alcohol  which  has  since  inflicted  so  many  evils  upon  the 
world.  .  .  They  exhilarate,  they  enliven,  they  stimulate,  and 
exalt  the  mental  powers.  Some  [men]  they  stupefy,  some  they 
convert  into  irritable  savages,  some  into  drivelling  idiots,  and 
some  into  mere  pugnacious  animals.  All,  if  long  and  largely 
used,  they  brutalize,  prostrate,  and,  in  the  end,  carry  to  an  un 
timely  grave But  more  wonderful  than  these  poisonous 

and  destructive  effects,  is  the  passion  for  indulging  in  them 
ivhich  these  liquors  awaken  [originate]  in  a  large  proportion  of  our 
fellow-men,  — the  irresistible  love  with  which  these  unfortunates 
are  smitten  by  them,  — the  fascinating  influence  by  which  they 
are  charmed.  The  will  becomes  absolutely  spellbound  through 
the  action  of  alcohol  on  the  bodies  of  some,  and  reason  is  de 
throned,  even  where  it  formerly  exercised  clear  and  undisputed 
sway IT  is  FROM  THIS  FASCINATING  POWER  THAT  THE 

DANGER  OF  USING  THEM  PRINCIPALLY  ARISES." 

184.  But  still  more  clearly  was  the  principle  stated 
long  ago,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Reid,  the  Scottish  philoso 
pher  :  — 


Give  the  observations  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review;"  of  the  philosopher 
Beid. 


296  TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE. 

"  Besides  the  appetites  which  nature  has  given  us,  for  useful 
and  necessary  purposes,  we  may  create  appetites  nature  never 
gave.  The  frequent  use  of  things  which  stimulate  the  nervous 
system  produces  a  languor  when  their  effect  is  gone  off,  and  a 
(consequent)  desire  to  repeat  them.  By  this  means,  a  desire  of 
a  certain  object  is  created,  accompanied  by  an  uneasy  sensation. 
Both  are  removed  for  a  time  by  the  object  desired;  but  they 
return  after  a  certain  interval.*  .  .  .  Such  are  the  appetites 
•which  some  men  acquire  for  the  use  of  tobacco,  for  opiates, 
and  for  intoxicating  liquors." 

185.  Looking  back  at  the  preceding  sections  (167, 
182),  we  are  brought  to  the  old  conclusion,  —  not  that 
moral-suasion  and  temperance  societies  are  FAILURES  (for 
they  have  done  much  they  were  adapted  to  do,  indeed 
quite  as  much  as  we  had  a  right  to  expect  them  to  ac 
complish  under  the  circumstances  of  imperfection  in 
which  they  originated),  but  that  they  are  INADEQUATE 
to  meet  the  whole  causality  of  the  evil.  Until  the  rem 
edies  of  an  evil  are  as  broad  and  deep  as  the  circle  and 
fountain  of  the  cause,  the  effect  must  continue,  by  ne 
cessity  of  divine  law.  Whatsoever  we  sow,  that  we 


*  »  Works  of  Dr.  T.  Reid,"  Sir  TV.  Hamilton's  ed.,  p.  553.  He  adds :  "  This 
differs  from  natural  appetite  only  in  being  acquired  by  custom."  But  he  is 
wrong.  The  true  difference  is,  that  while  a  pint  of  milk,  or  a  pound  of 
bread  will  always  fulfil  the  same  ends,  the  same  effect  cannot  be  produced  by 
the  same  dose  of  a  narcotic  continuously.  Hence,  from  the  desire  for  pleas 
ure,  and  the  dislike  of  pain,  —  the  two  essential  instincts  of  life,  —  in  relation 
to  this  physical  law,  arises  the  tendency  of  the  little  use  to  beget  the  ever 
growing  use  (called  abuse),  which  satisfieth  not,  as  food  does.  If  a  man  is  a 
glutton,  it  is  in  spite  of  the  food,  which  tends  to  satisfy.  But  if  a  drunkard, 
he  is  so  because  of  the  tendency  of  drink  to  create  an  ever-increasing  appe 
tite. 


What  is  the  difference  between  the  law  of  food  and  the  law  of  narcotics  ? 
185.  What  is  the  sum  of  the  preceding  argument  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  297 

must  also  reap.  No  mere  deprecations  or  lamentations, 
no  hopes,  no  aspirations,  no  prayers,  will  in  the  least 
avail,  if  at  the  same  time  we  do  not  touch  the  actual 
causes  of  the  evil  effect  deplored.  Faith  is  emphatically 
dead  and  barren  without  works,  in  this  case ;  for  the 
same  reason  that  no  amount  of  trust  will  cause  wet 
powder  to  explode.  Multifarious  and  majestic  as  the 
labors  of  the  temperance  societies  have  been,  there  are 
causes  which  they  cannot  successfully  cope  with  and 
conquer  ;  causes  which  win  back  from  them  some  of  their 
proudest  trophies  and  most  promising  conquests,  and 
occasion  many  of  their  valiant  soldiers  to  relapse  into 
fatalism  or  despair.  Fields  that  were  once  white  unto 
the  harvest  have  been  covered  with  blight  and  blackness  ; 
fruitful  orchards  once  ruddy  with  health,  and  advancing 
to  a  ripe  and  rich  maturity,  have  been  withered  by  some 
baleful  blast ;  thousands  who,  under  the  aspirations  of 
enthusiasm,  signed  pledges  of  abstinence,  have  gradually 
declined  and  narrowed  into  units.  Such  is  the  history 
of  temperance  societies  everywhere !  They  have,  by 
immense  and  herculean  efforts,  raised  embankments  to 
shut  out  the  swelling  tide  of  intemperance,  and  for  a  time 
succeeded  ;  but,  ere  long,  some  current  has  set  in,  or  the 
incessant  return  of  the  tide  has  gradually  destroyed  the 
works  in  some  part  or  other,  and  the  waves  have  come 
in  again  with  destructive  power.  The  reason  is  plain. 
Philanthropy  can  work  only  by  jits  and  starts;  it  tires 
and  relaxes,  and  is  carried  on  of  necessity  by  a  system  of 
relays;  whereas  misanthropy  and  mammon  have  a  ma- 


Why  must  mere  philanthropy  fail  to  accomplish  the  reformation  ?    What 
do  vested  interests  involve  ? 


298  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

chinery  and  motive-force  which  are  compact,  incessant, 
and  untiring.  They  know  no  repose  and  need  no  rest ; 
their  lever  and  fulcrum  are  unfortunately  pivoted  upon 
the  very  LAWS,  upon  vested  INTERESTS  and  licensed  IN 
STITUTIONS  ;  and  they  are  worked  by  the  remorseless  in 
stincts  of  selfishness,  greed,  and  fear. 

186.  While  such  a  social  anomaly  exists  as  institu 
tions  for  the  theoretical  teaching  of  temperance  and  mo- 
ralit3r,  side  by  side  with  a  hundred  thousand  seminaries 
devoted  to  the  practical  training  of  drunkards,  paupers, 
and  criminals,  it  is  sheer  madness  to  expect  anything 
like  general  sobriety  and  virtue.  Moral  palaver  passes 
by  with  little  influence,  when  uttered  amidst  the  press 
ing  and  hourly  temptations  of  life.  The  virtuous  theory 
held  up  before  the  intellect  is  weaker  than  the  vicious 
temptation  which  appeals  to  the  active  powers  ;  the  cor 
ruption  within  is  far  stronger  as  a  motive-force  than 
simple  intelligence.  Video  meliora,  etc.,  —  uwe  know 
the  right,  but  do  the  wrong."  That  which  appeals  to  the 
evil  habit  cannot  tend  to  strengthen  the  moral  nature. 
Of  all  the  strange  paradoxes  of  our  time,  therefore,  the 
strangest  seems  to  be  that  of  a  moral  suasionist  opposed 
to  prohibition,  —  a  teetotaler  who  is  an  anti  Maine  Law 
man  !  For  what  have  we  here  ? 

A  person  who,  as  a  temperance  member,  teaches  that 
intoxicating  liquor  is  physically  evil  and  morally  and 
socially  seductive  and  corrupting ;  who  warns  the  pub 
lic  against  the  tavern,  as  a  trap  and  a  temptation  to 
ruin ;  yet  — 

l$i.  What  is  the  great  practical  temptation  1    Why  is  a  moral  suasionist 
Inconsistent  ?    Explain  the  force  of  circumstances. 


TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE.  299 

A  person  who,  in  his  relation  of  citizen,  takes  part  in 
the  election  of  men  who  make  the  laws  which  open  the 
public  house,  and  sanction  and  license  the  sale  of  the 
drink  which,  as  teetotaler,  he  decries  and  denounces  !  It 
is  worse  than  folly,  however,  —  it  is  inconsistency,  con 
tradiction,  and  perversity.  It  is  profession  flouted  by 
practice ;  it  is  moral  suasion  counteracted  by  legal 
temptation;  it  is  the  blasphemy  of  converting  LAW, 
that  most  sacred  of  attributes,  into  the  cloak  and  apolo 
gy  for  a  system  which  is  the  perpetual  fountain  of  so 
cial  misrule  and  mischief. 

187.  Let  us  review  the  argument.  The  first  cause 
why  many  begin  to  drink  must  be  one  of  two,  springing 
out  of  a  mental  state,  —  either  a  desire  to  realize  pleas 
ure  or  relieve  pain,  arising  from  a  knowledge  of  the 
anaesthetic  properties  of  alcoholic  drinks,  or  a  belief  in 
their  dietetic  advantages.  This  source  of  drinking  re 
quires  to  be  combated  by  special  education  as  to  the  true 
nature  of  alcohol,  and  by  pointing  out  its  danger  or  se 
ductiveness.  The  second  cause  why  men  begin  to  drink, 
is  the  influence  of  fashion  and  custom,  —  one  of  the 
standing  hindrances  to  human -progress.  This  can  be 
resisted  only  by  combination, — that  is,  associated  example, 
—  and  the  particular  fashions  connected  with  drinking  re 
quire  a  confederation  more  complicated,  perfect,  and 
august  than  any  we  have  yet  seen  in  operation ;  we  in 
voke  support,  therefore,  to  the  higher  organizations, —  the 
new  orders  of  merit  founded  upon  work,  on  intrinsic  and 
tried  worthiness,  —  organizations  which  combine  the  vir- 


187.  What  is  the  lesson  of  the  whole,  in  relation  to  the  three  evils  and  tM 
three  remedies  1 


300  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

tues  of  Free  Masonry,  the  benefits  of  Mutual  Assurance, 
and  the  dignities  of  Intelligence  and  Virtue.  But,  drink 
ing  from  any  influence,  to  begin  with,  generates  by  phys 
ical  law  the  lilting  for  strong  drink,  which  is,  in  fact, 
the  initial  degree  and  universal  inauguration  of  the 
world's  drunkenness.  The  sole  proximate  cause  of  the 
drunkard's  appetite  is  the  ptrysical  operation  of  the 
drink,  inducing  the  gradual  disorganization  of  the  nor 
mal  nature  of  man,  first  of  his  nervous  system,  and  sec 
ond  of  his  mental  associations.  This  is  the  secret  of 
intemperance,  which  is  the  condition  we  desire  to  remove, 
and  which,  of  course,  can  only  be  removed  by  the  de 
struction  of  its  cause.  It  is  this  acquired  liking  —  this 
subjective  susceptibility  within  men — that  gives  such 
tremendous  power  to  the  ramified  temptations  of  the 
traffic.  The  enemy,  as  it  were,  has  friends  already 
within  the  citadel,  willing  to  open  the  gates.  So  when  the 
drink  is  impeached  and  placed  at  the  bar,  the  jury  are 
bribed  and  prejudiced  in  its  favor.  The  traffic  surrounds 
the  people  with  ready  drinking  facilities,  and  presses 
upon  them  perpetual  suggestions,  at  once  in  harmony 
•with  ignorance,  with  custom,  and  with  appetite.  Hence 
its  potency  and  the  tenacity  of  its  grasp.  Law  has  en 
trenched  and  emblazoned  it,  and  law  to  the  multitude 
is  a  powerful  teacher ;  and  what  the  law  has  raised  into 
power,  the  law  can  alone  destroy.  It  has,  in  fact,  raised 
a  monster  ;  has  constructed  and  vivified  a  social  Frank 
enstein,  whose  "  daily  bread "  is  confusion  and  crime; 
and  no  lesser  agency  can  now  annihilate  it.  It  is  too 
strong  for  mere  suasion ;  it  demands  legal  prohibition^ 
called  forth  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  armed  with 
executive  power,  — prohibition  as  expressive  of  the  wis- 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  301 

dom  and  virtue  of  the  community,  and  solemnly  realizing 
m  their  social  constitution,  for  the  benefit  of  the  great 
masses  of  the  people,  that  protection  for  which  the  Chris 
tian  petitions  God  on  his  own  behalf,  —  "Lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil." 

When  our  remedies  are  thus  coextensive  with  the 
causes  of  the  disorder,  we  may  expect  the  temperance 
enterprise  to  go  on  to  an  assured  and  complete  victory. 
Prohibition,  by  removing  the  hindrance,  will  give  fair 
play  to  moral  suasion  ;  or,  to  change  the  figure,  prohi 
bition,  by  draining  away  the  poisoned  waters  that  kill 
the  seed  of  much  truth,  will  allow  the  germs  of  knowl 
edge  and  virtue  to  fructify  in  an  appropriate  soil,  and  to 
grow  up  to  a  fair  and  fruitful  harvest  of  social  happi 
ness. 

188.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  moderate  use  of  drink 
is  the  only  proper  and  proximate  cause  of  drunkenness, 
and  that  all  attempts  to  get  rid  of  this  vice,  without 
abstinence,  will  necessarily  fail.  The  surroundings  of 
men,  playing  upon  their  feelings  and  perverting  their  un 
formed  judgments,  is  a  more  powerful  teacher  than  any 
mere  words.  This  truth,  Byron  saw  when  he  apostro 
phized 

"  Circumstance,  thou  wnspiritual  God  and  miscreator, 
Whose  touch  turns  hope  to  dust, 
The  dust  we  all  have  trod." 

Still,  it  is  quite  true  that  temperance  requires  its  bul 
warks,  —  certain  exterior  and  supplementary  work,  which 
the  enlightened  temperance  man  should  partly  inaugu- 

188.  What  is  meant  by  the  "  Bulwarks  of  Temperance  "? 


302  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

rate,  and  partly  stimulate  others,  less  advanced,  to  per 
form.  These  "  conservators  of  temperance,"  as  we  may 
call  them,  are,  as  the  auctioneer's  catalogue  phrases  it, 
"  too  numerous  to  mention  "  in  detail ;  but  the  class  may 
be  known  by  a  few  samples. 

189.  Education  is  the  first  of  these,  —  using  the  word 
in  its  proper  and  original  sense  as  an  educing,  or  bring 
ing  out,  the  latent  and  higher  powers  of  the  mind.    For 
though  mere  cramming,  learning,  and  instruction  —  or 
knowing,  as  dissevered  from  feeling  and  habitual  being  — 
is  no  safeguard  against  the  encroachments  of  sensuality 
so  long  as  the  physical  causes  of  appetite  are  fostered,  it 
is  yet  very  important  to  recollect,  that  a  thirst  for  knowl 
edge,  a  taste  for  reading,  a  perception  of  the  beautiful 
in  nature  and  art,  —  in  brief,  the  pursuit  of  intellectual 
and  refined  pleasures,  —  must  positively  and  powerfully 
tend  to  conserve  wise  and  pure  habits  of  temperance, 
and  negatively,  as  regards  time '  and  opportunity,  tend 
to  narrow  the  dangerous  platform  of  temptation.     He 
who  has  pure  tastes  and  good  habits  will  be  least  sus 
ceptible  to  the  evil  influences  of  bad  customs,  least  at 
tracted  by  the  gross  seductions  of  the  impure  social  cir 
cle.     As  the  ale-house  is  the  antagonist  of  the  school,  so 
are  the  school,  the  mechanics'  institute,  the  gallery  of 
art,  the  oratorio,  the  free  library,  and  the  lecture-room 
the  rivals  of  the  drinking  saloon. 

190.  We  remember  once  hearing  an  advocate  of  tem- 


189.  What  is  the  function  of  Education,  and  how  docs  it  bear  upon  the  cure 
of  intemperance  ? 

190.  How  does  sanitary  reform  stand  related  to  the  Temperance  Keformft. 
Uon? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  303 

perance  weakly  decrying  sanitary  reform  as  needless, 
where  we  had  teetotalism  !  Nothing  can  be  more  absurd, 
nothing  more  calculated  to  bring  contempt  and  derision 
upon  the  cause  he  was  so  foolishly  pleading.  Not  to  in 
sist  on  the  truth,  that  the  very  thing  repudiated  should 
be  one  of  the  uses  of  temperance,  —  one  of  those  ends 
that  give  value  to  the  means,  —  the  advocate  had  clean 
forgotten  that  bad  sanitary  arrangements,  by  inducing  a 
low  tone  of  health,  and  fostering  a  morbid  condition  of 
the  mind,  at  once  increase  the  susceptibility  to  tempta 
tion  and  lessen  the  power  of  resistance.  The  felt  want 
of  the  physical  system  may  be  said  almost  to  drive  the 
victim  of  dirt,  malaria,  and  deficient  ventilation  to  the 
use  of  such  narcotics  and  stimulants  as  will  afford  un 
doubted  temporary  relief.  The  truly  enlightened  advo 
cate,  therefore,  must  also  be  the  friend  of  every  kind  of 
real  sanitary  and  dietetic  reform,  the  supporter  of  sani 
tary  law,  and  of  baths  and  wash-houses  for  the  people. 
Ventilation,  and  the  absence  of  dirt  and  decomposition 
from  the  homestead  and  the  street,  is  but  another  name 
for  bathing  the  blood  in  pure  air  ;  while  the  bath  and  the 
wash-house  are  the  instruments  for  securing  the  purity, 
or  ventilation,  of  the  pores  of  the  skin,  thus  completing 
the  purification  of  the  circulating  vital  fluids.  If  "  clean 
liness  be  next  to  godliness,'*  —  by  tending  to  put  the 
soul  in  a  better  attitude  of  attention,  —  it  may  be  said 
with  still  greater  emphasis,  that  "  cleanliness  is  part  of 
temperance." 

If  "bulwarks"  and  "  preventatives "  are  needful  to 
the  normal  and  unvitiated  members  of  society  ;  if,  to  sus 
tain  them  in  virtue,  even  their  circumstances  must  be  in 
harmony  with  the  theory  of  well  doing,  it  is  evident  that 


304  TEXT-BOOK  OF   TEMPERANCE. 

special  teaching  and  discipline,  through  fitting  institu 
tions,  should  exist  for  the  developed  victims  of  strong 
drink.  At  last,  physiologists  and  statesmen  have  begun 
to  acknowledge  that  the  drinker's  appetite  is  a  true  ma 
nia,  and  must  be  treated  as  such.  Hence  the  estab 
lishment  of  u  Inebriate  Asylums  "  in  various  parts  of  the 
States,  where,  as  regards  the  male  sex,  it  has  been  found 
that  nearly  80  per  cent,  of  those  under  treatment,  which 
is  both  physical  and  moral,  hold  steadfast  to  the  princi 
ple  of  abstinence.* 

In  the  case  of  persons  having  latent  cravings  for 
drink,  we  know  few  things  more  efficacious  than  a  short 
course  of  that  peculiar  method  of  cleansing,  which,  bor 
rowed  from  the  Orientals,  has  been  recently  introduced 
into  many  cities,  —  we  mean,  the  Turkish  bath.  Who,  suf 
fering  from  morbid  accumulations  incident  to  town  life, 
that  has  ever  tried  these  processes  has  not  felt  a  wonder- 


*  The  following  are  the  places  where  such  establishments  exist  at  present 
date(18G8):  — 

BINGHAMPTON,  N.  Y.  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  President;  Albert  Day, 
M.  D.,  Superintendent. 

BROOKLYN.  Kings  County  Inebriate  Asylum.  Hon.  J.  S.  T.  Stranaham, 
President;  Rev.  John  Willetts,  Superintendent. 

Ward's  Island  Asylum  for  Inebriates,  near  New  York  city.  Under  charge 
of  the  Commissioners  of  Charities  and  Correction.  Dr.  \V.  R.  Fisher,  Res 
ident  Physician. 

BOSTON,  MASS.  Washingtonian  Home,  1009  Washington  Street.  Otis 
Clapp,  President;  \Vm.  C.  Lawrence,  Superintendent. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.  Washingtonian  Home,  570  West-Madison  Street.  C.  J. 
Hull,  President;  Dr.  J.  A.  Ballard,  Superintendent. 

MEDIA,  PA.  Inebriate  Asylum.  Dr.  Joseph  Parrish,  M.  D.,  Superinten 
dent. 


What  is  the  nature  of  Inebriate  Asylums  ?    What  special  bath  is  useful  in 
the  case  of  drink-curing  ?  and  also  as  a  preventive  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  305 

ful  increase  in  the  vital  elasticity  of  his  frame  ?  It  is  as 
though  a  heavy  weight  had  been  lifted  from  the  bent 
spring  of  life,  permitting  fuller  and  freer  play  to  the  vi 
tal  machinery,  and  creating  a  feeling  of  sympathetic 
purity  in  the  soul. 

191.  On  the  same  principle  of  the  acknowledged  con 
nection  between  body  and  mind,  —  of  a  right  condition 
of  the  physical  with  a  normal  condition  of  the  spiritual, 
or  the  sensuous, — we  should  be  the  friends  of  all  inno 
cent  recreation ;  for,  be  assured,  such  lias  a  re-creating 
effect,  —  a  highly  ameliorating  tendency  upon  the  temper 
and  spirit,  both  of  boys  and  men.     Our  very  proverbs 
teach  this.      "  All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull 
boy."    Why  ?    Because  it  puts  his  body  and  brain  in  a 
false  and  unnatural  state.     Again  :    "  The  devil  tempts 
the  idle."     Why?    Because  dammed-up  physical  ener 
gies  are  apt  to  get  into  wrong  channels,  and  thus  produce 
devastation.     Lust,  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  for  example, 
is  dependent  for  its  development  more  on  rich  diet  and 
idleness  than  anything  else,  and  the  best  antidote  is  in 
tellectual  occupation,   simple  diet,  moderate   exercise, 
and  innocent  recreation.     Morbid   physical  conditions 
tend  to  moral  evil ;  and  so,  contrariwise,  recreation,  in 
proper  time  and  method,  is  a  condition  of  healthy  life 
which  tends  to  purity  and  temperance  ;  which,  at  least, 
prevents  the  addition  of  evil  to  the  original  defect  and 
depravity  of  man.     When  will  people  learn  the  duty  of 
giving  our  original  and  better  nature  "fair  play"? 

192.  The  establishment  of  TEMPERANCE   HOTELS  is 


191.  Show  the  value  of  innocent  recreation,  and  its  bearing  upon  thii 
question. 

20 


306  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

another  desideratum,  —  not  hotels  set  up  by  untrained 
and  incompetent  persons,  or  mere  speculators :  hotels 
where  one  is  ashamed  to  take  our  friends,  or  be  seen 
ourselves  ;  houses  which  are  nasty  and  not  cheap,  —  but 
hotels  which  shall  be  patterns  of  liberal  economy,  neat 
ness,  and  comfort.  The  conversion  of  respectable  pub 
licans  would  be  the  best  thing;  but,  failing  that,  why 
should  not  our  organizations  see  to  this  ?  What  else  are 
they  for,  save  to  accomplish  work  beyond  the  power 
of  individual  effort?  When  a  sufficiency  of  respectable 
houses  of  this  character  shall  be  provided,  not  only  will 
a  great  excuse  and  apology  for  drinking  be  removed,  but 
the  institution  of  such  houses  —  houses  of  which  we  shall 
be  rather  proud"  than  ashamed  —  will  be  a  powerful 
teaching  in  itself. 

Once  more,  and  in  conclusion,  we  suggest  a  more 
powerful  organization  of  our  friends  and  forces,  upon 
the  broadest  basis  and  in  the  highest  spirit,  for  the  re 
moval  of  the  great  positive  causes  of  intemperance,  and 
the  inauguration  of  those  social  conditions  which  shall 
permanently  conserve  the  fruits  of  the  temperance  ref 
ormation. 

193.  Laws  and  institutions  which  promote  a  low  state 
of  intelligence  and  industry  will,  other  things  being  the 
same,  tend  to  intemperance  ;  on  the  principle  explained, 
that  the  temptation  to  happiness  must  be  of  the  sensual 
kind,  rather  than  of  the  moral  or  social.  A  degraded 
peasantry,  like  a  tribe  of  savages  or  Indians,  or  the 
pariahs  of  our  towns,  will  be  sure  to  fall  before  the 


192.  What  is  needed  as  a  substitute  for  drinking  saloons,  bar,  and  grog 
shops  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  307 

temptation  of  the  drink,  if  presented.  On  the  other 
hand,  mere  ignorance  will  not  necessarily  have  this 
tendency.  This  is  seen  in  the  state  of  the  peasantry  of 
Ireland,  of  Italy,  and  especially  of  France,  where,  with 
profound  ignorance  there  is  great  comparative  sobriety. 
Besides  the  limited  number  of  drinking-shops,  we  have 
there  the  strong  antagonist  passion  for  saving,  which, 
combined  with  higher  education  and  better  social  ar 
rangements,  is  capable  of  being  turned  to  good  account 
in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  progress.  Nassau,  and 
other  agricultural  districts  of  Germany,  when  the  feudal 
system  was  broken-up  and  the  land  distributed  among 
the  people,  became  at  once  more  educated,  wealthy,  and 
sober.  The  peasantry  had  an  interest  in  social  life  and 
its  ambitions,  and  when  permitted  to  thrive,  became 
economical  instead  of  careless,  dissipated,  and  drunken. 
The  same  tendency  would  be  developed  in  our  large 
towns,  amongst  the  high-paid  artisans,  —  now  the  great 
est  drinkers,  —  if  only  the  temptations  were  removed,  and 
a  systematic  attempt  were  made  to  show  them  that  a 
better  life  was  possible.  But  "circumstances"  doom 
them  to  evil  ways,  and  the  high  wages  which,  through 
temperance,  economy,  and  co-operation,  might  enable 
them  to  redeem  their  class,  become  an  instrument  of 
their  degradation.  It  is  their  feeling  of  this  in  Great 
Britain  which  makes  them  such  ardent  supporters  of  the 
Permissive  Bill  for  the  suppression  of  the  traffic.* 

*  The  large  Whitwood  Colliery,  near  Leeds,  which  formerly  was  notoriou8 
for  its  riot  and  drinking,  is  now  a  model  village,  owing  to  the  happy  intro 
duction  of  co-operation  between  masters  and  men.  The  men  have  a  share 
of  the  profits,  and  a  voice  in  the  management.  Mr.  Briggs,  the  chief  pro 
prietor,  thus  describes  the  results  (Dec.,  1868) :  — 

"  They  had  worked  out  there  a  true  remedy  for  the  evils  described;  not  a 


308  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

These  principles  are  of  universal  application,  and  show 
in  how  various  ways,  when  once  the  traffic  is  down  and 
the  social  usages  are  shattered,  we  may  conserve  true 
temperance. 


X. 

Sumnmrg  0f  % 

1.  TEMPERANCE  is  the  proper  use  of  things.  It  prima 
rily,  therefore,  refers  to  quality,  not  quantity.  Like  sin 
in  general,  the  special  vice  of  intemperance  is  not  the 

cure  merely,  but  a  prevention,  and  a  remedy  which  had  transformed  the  vil 
lage  from  a  hot-bed  of  strife  and  ill  feeling  between  employer  and  employed , 
into  a  model  of  peace  and  good  will. 

"  While  great  improvement  was  being  effected  in  the  financial  results  of 
the  business,  a  corresponding  change  was  taking  place  in  the  social  and 
moral  condition  of  the  village.  Many  had  expressed  a  fear  that  the  distri 
bution  of  an  unwonte  1  amount  of  money,  as  bonus  among  the  men,  would 
result  in  increased  drinking,  gambling,  and  other  evils ;  but  they  had  not 
found  this  fear  realized.  Of  course,  among  the  large  number  of  recipients 
there  would  be  some  who  would  make  a  bad  use  of  their  unaccustomed 
riches ;  but  such  cases  were  extremely  rare.  While  many  paid  in  their  bonus 
as  a  deposit  towards  a  share  in  the  company,  or  paid  off  some  old  debt  to  the 
neighboring  shopkeeper,  a  still  larger  proportion  spent  their  bonus  in  some 
long-wanted  article  of  furniture,  or  ia  new  clothes;  while  instances  were 
not  rare  of  a  pig  being  added  to  the  live  stock  of  the  family,  to  be  fattened 
for  Christmas." 

Mr.  Pyrah  also  said :  "  They  had  no  '  Collier  Monday '  now,  and  had  not 
made  a  play-day  for  nine  months.  The  scheme  had  produced  a  wonderful 
good  feeling  between  the  workmen ;  and  as  he  was  determined  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  reduce  the  misery  which  had  existed,  he  should  give  the  scheme 
his  utmost  support." 

1.  What  is  Temperance  ?    What  is  the  special  vice  of  Intemperance  ? 


TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.  309 

use  of  a  little,  or  of  a  large  amount  of  food  or  drink,  but 
the  conscious  free  choice  of  the  worse  in  presence  of  an 
attainable  better.  It  is,  consequently,  always  a  question 
of  fitness.  What  Reason  cannot  justify,  Morality  must 
condemn. 

2.  That  Alcohol,  the  intoxicating  constituent  of  inebri 
ating  liquors,  is  the  product  of  the  artificial  fermentation 
of  natural  elements  of  food,  sugars  of  various  kinds, 
which  exist  ready  formed  in  fruits,  or  produced  by  the 
malting  of  grain.     Alcoholic  liquors  are  no  more  found 
in  creation,  than  pistols  and  powder,  bullets  and  bowie- 
knives.     That   all   power  wielded  by   man  is   derived 
through  natural  law,  but  man  is  responsible  for  the  mode 
of  its  use,  and  its  effects.     God  creates  iron,  but  man 
makes  guns  ;  grain  grows,  but  the  brewer  malts  and  fer 
ments  it  into  drink.     Alcohol  is  a  special  combination 
of  atoms,  not  pre-existing  in  sugar,  but  induced  by  art. 
The  only  known  creature,  save  man,  that  has  a  claim 
to  the  production  of  alcohol,  is  a  very  low  species  of 
plant,  —  a  child  of  darkness,  like  the   cryptogams,  — 
called  Torula,  the  cells  of  which  are  said  to  secrete  an 
infinitesimal  amount  of  Alcohol,  —  a  fact  parallel  to  the 
secretion  of  formic-acid  by  the  red  ants  ;    but  the  one 
fact  no  more  points  to  the   consumption  of  alcoholic 
liquors,  than  the  other  to  cJiloroformic,  which  results 
from  combining  formyle  with  chlorine. 

3.  That  Alcohol,  judged  by  experience  and  known  by 
its  fruits,  must  be  condemned  as  food.     In  all  climates, 


2.  What  is  Alcohol  ?    From  what  is  all  power  derived  ?    How  should  it  b« 
ised? 

3.  What  is  Alcohol,  judged  by  experience  ?    Of  what  is  it  productive  ? 


310  TEXT-BOOK   OF   TEMPERANCE. 

temperate,  torrid,  or  arctic,  —  in  all  departments  of 
labor,  civil,  naval,  or  military,  in  mine,  field,  workshop, 
or  study,  —  it  has  been  found  productive  of  weakness, 
and  of  increased  sickness  and  excessive  mortality.  That 
Alcohol  cannot  u  nourish"  because  it  does  not  contain 
the  matter  of  the  body  to  assimilate  to  it ;  that  it  cannot 
"  warm"  but,  on  the  contrary,  narcotizes  and  chills ; 
and  that  it  antagonizes  the  known  ends  and  qualities  of 
drink.  That  the  vulgar  estimates  of  the  value  of  wines 
and  beers  as  diet  are  extravagant  and  untrue.  That 
Alcohol  does  not  aid  "  digestion." 

4.  That  Alcohol  is  an  agent  properly  termed  "  poison 
ous,"  because  it  disturbs  the  natural  condition  of  the 
living  organs,  and  thereby  ivastes  the  vital  forces.  That, 
in  this  respect,  it  is  specially  distinguished  from  all  true 
foods,  which  warm  without  first  burning,  and  build  up 
•without  first  pulling  down.     That  Alcohol,  like  chloro 
form,  is  an  irritant  narcotic,  a  true  depressor  of  vital 
power.      That  it  inflames  and  indurates  many  organs, 
promotes  muscular  degeneration  of  heart  and  other  tis 
sues,  and  perverts  the  nutrition  and  functions  of  the 
brain,  both  through  its  molecular  poisoning  of  the  blood 
and  its  direct  action  upon  nervous  matter. 

5.  That  Alcohol  is  not  a  curative,  or  truly  medicinal 
agent,   but  at  best,   a  mere   "adjunct"  to   treatment. 
That  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  where  it  is  pre 
scribed,  it  does  nothing  but  harm,  and  increases  fright 
fully  the  mortality  of  patients.     That  the  conditions  for 
its  scientific  prescription  are  generally  unknown,  and 


4.  What  is  said  of  Alcohol  a8  an  agent  ?    What  results  from  its  use  ? 

5.  What  is  said  of  Alcohol  as  a  medical  agent  ? 


TEXT-BOOK   OF  TEMPERANCE.  311 

its  most  plausible  use  is  reduced  to  the  solitary  fact  of 
its  being  an  anmstJietic,  or  nerve-quieter. 

6.  That  Revelation  and  Science  accord  in  a  remark 
able  manner  upon  the  moral  and  physical  question  of  the 
use   of   intoxicating  wines,   the    Bible   having  plainly 
pointed  out  their  poisonous,    seductive,  narcotic,  and 
heart-deceiving  properties,  and  nowhere  given  them  its 
direct   sanction.      That  Teetotalism,   in   all   its   parts, 
physical,  social,  and  moral,  is  distinctly  approved. 

7.  That  histoiy  shows  beyond  denial,  that  Intemper 
ance  is  no  question  of  race  or  climate,  but  has  prevailed 
in  all  ages  and  amongst  all  people,  whether  refined  or 
barbarous,  whether  educated  or  ignorant,  whether  pagan, 
Jew,  or  Christian,  in  proportion  to  the  facilities  for  the 
use  of  intoxicants. 

8.  That,   in  the   language   of  Thomas   de   Quincey, 
"  The  most  remarkable  instance  of  a  combined  movement 
in  society,  which  history  perhaps  will  bo  summoned  to 
notice,  is  that  which,  in  our  own  days,  has  applied  itself 
to  the  abatement  of  Intemperance.   Two  vast  movements 
are    hurrying  into    action,   by    velocities    continually 
accelerated, — the  great  revolutionary  movement  from 
political   causes,   concurring    with  the    great   physical 
movement  t  in  locomotion  and  social   intercourse  from 
the  gigantic  power  of  steam.     At  the  opening  of  such  a 
crisis,  had  no  third  movement  arisen  of  resistance  to  in 
temperate   habits,   there  would  have   been  ground  for 


6.  What  is  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  ?    Does  the  Bible  sanction  intoxi 
cating  wine  ? 

7.  What  does  history  show  ? 

8.  What  statement  is  made  by  Thomas  de  Quincey?    What  ia  the  only 
remedy  ? 


312  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

despondency  as  to  the  melioration  of  the  human  race." 
That  the  only  remedy  possible  is  a  systematic  organiza 
tion  of  moral  and  political  force,  as  against  an  insidious 
and  cruel  foe,  which  shall  meet  the  various  conditions 
which  give  support  to  Intemperance.  That  the  history 
of  the  Temperance  movement  in  America,  and  incident 
ally  in  Britain,  is  a  providential  development  of  the 
remedies  required  to  meet  those  conditions.  That  pro 
hibition,  wherever  fairly  tried,  and  so  far  as  tried,  has 
succeeded. 

9.  That  the  philosophy  of  the  Temperance  enterprise 
is  a  question  of  causation,  or  of  those  factors  on  which 
the  effect  depends.  That  these  three  —  (1)  false  no 
tions  and  estimates  of  the  drink;  (2)  social  fashions 
and  usages  ;  (3)  public  facilities  for  the  sale  of  drink  — 
must  be  met  by  their  corresponding  cures,  —  suasion 
for  the  head ;  the  fashion  of  a  better  associated  exam 
ple  for  the  conventional  usage ;  and  prohibition  of  the 
traffic  as  the  crown  and  complement  of  the  Temperance 
movement. 


9.  What  three  causes  are  given  for  the  prevalence  of  Intemperance  ?  What 
are  the  three  cures  ? 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF   THE 

ational.  Jcmperance   Society 

^LND     PUBLICATION    JiousE. 

NATIONAL  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY,  organized  in  1866  for  the  purpose 
of  supplying  a  sound  and  able  Temperance  literature,  have  already 
'  stereotyped  and  published  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  publications  of 
all  sorts  and  sizes,  from  the  one-page  tract  up  to  the  bound  volume  of  500 
pages.  This  list  comprises  books,  tracts,  and  pamphlets,  containing 
essays,  stories,  sermons,  arguments,  statistics,  history,  etc.,  upon  every 
phase  of  the  question.  Special  attention  has  been  given  to  the  department 

For  Sunday- School  Libraries. 

Over  forty  volumes  have  already  been  issued,  written  by  some  of  the  best 
authors  in  the  land.  These  have  been  carefully  examined  and  unani 
mously  approved  by  the  Publication  Committee  of  the  Society,  represent 
ing  the  various  religious  denominations  and  Temperance  organizations  of 
the  country,  which  consists  of  the  following  members : 

PETER  CARTER,  REV.   J.   B.   DUNN, 

REV.   W.    M.   TAYLOR,  REV.   A.   G.    LAWSON, 

A.   A.    ROBBINS,  REV.   ALFRED   TAYLOR, 

REV.   M.   C.    SUTPHEN,  R.  R.   SINCLAIR, 

T.   A.    BROUWER,  REV.   C.    D.    FOSS, 

J.   N.   STEARNS,  JAMES   BLACK, 

REV.   WILLIAM   HOWELL   TAYLOR. 

These  volumes  have  been  cordially  commended  by  leading  clergymen 
of  all  denominations,  and  by  various  national  and  State  bodies,  all  over 

The  following  is  the  list,  which  can  be  procured  through  the  regular 
Sunday-School  trade,  or  by  sending  direct  to  the  rooms  of  the  Society  : 

Rev.  Dr.  Willoughby  and  his  Wine.  lamo,  458  pages.  By  Mrs.  MARY 
SPRING  WALKER,  author  of  "The  Family  Doctor,"  etc,  .  .  .  $1  60 

This  thrillinglv  interestir,  -  hook  depicts  in  *  vivid  manner  the  terrible  influence  exerted  by 
those   who  stand  as  the  servants  of  God,  and  who  sanction  the  social  custom  of  wine-drinking. 
It  U  fair  and  faithful  to  the  truth.     It  is  not  ft  bitter  tirade   against  the  church  or  the  ministry. 
On  the  contrary,  it  plainly  and  earnestly  acknowledges  that  the  ministry  is  the  friend 
and  the  great  bulwark  of  practical  virtue. 

At  Lion's  Mouth.  121110,  410  pp.  By  Miss  MARY  DWINELL  CHELLIS,  author 
of  "Temperance  Doctor,"  "Out  of  the  Fire,"  "Aunt  Dinahs 
Pledge,"  etc., 

This  is  one  of  the  best  books  ever  issued,  written  In  a  simple  vet  thrilling  and  interest- 
ing  style.  It  speaks  boldly  for  the  entire  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic,  depicting  vividly  tns 
misery  and  wrongs  resulting  from  it.  The  Christian  tone  is  most  excellent,  showing  the  nec.s- 
sHy  of  God's  grace  in  the  heart  to  overcome  temptation  and  the  power  of  appetite,  and  tb. 
influence  which  one  zealous  Christian  can  exert  upon  his  companions  aud  the  community. 


The  National  Temperance  Society' s  Books. 


Aunt  Dinah's  Pledge.  i2mo,  318 
pages.  By  Miss  MARY  DWINELL 
CHELLIS.  author  of  u  Temperance 
Doctor,1'  "  Out  of  the  Fire," 
etc.,  .  .  .,  .....  .  $1  25 

Aunt  Dinah  was  an  eminent  Christian  wo 
man.  Her  pledge  included  swearing  and  smok 
ing,  as  well  as  drinking.  It  saved  her  boys, 
who  lived  useful  lives,  and  died  happy  ;  and 
by  quiet,  yet  loving  and  persistent  work,  names 
of  many  others  were  added  who  seemed  almost 
beyond'  hope  of  salvation. 

The  Temperance  Doctor.  i2mo,  370 
pages.  By  Miss  MARY  DWINELL 
CHELLIS,  .......  $1  25 

This  is  a  true  story,  replete  with  interest, 
and  adapted  to  Sunday-school  and  family  read 
ing  In  it  we  have  graphically  depicted  the 
sad  ravages  that  are  caused  by  the  use  ol  intox 
icating  beverages  ;  also,  the  blessings  of  Tem 
perance,  and  what  may  be  accomplished  by  one 
earnest  soul  for  that  reform.  It  ought  to  find 
reader*  in  every  household. 

Out  of  the  Fire.  i2mo,  420  pages. 
By  Miss  MARY  DWINELL  CHELLIS, 
author  of  "  Deacon  Sim's  Pray 
ers,"  etc  .........  $1  25 

It  is  one  of  the  most  effective  and  impressive 
Temperance  books  ever  published.  The  evils 
of  the  drinking  customs  of  society,  and  the- 
blessings  of  sobriety  and  total  abstinence,  are- 
strikingly  developed  in  the  history  of  various 
families  in  the  community. 

History  of  a  Threepenny  Bit.  i8mo, 
216  pages,  .......  $0  75 

This  is  a   thrilling   story,  beautifully  illus 
e  wood  enravings.     The 
y  of  little  Pe 
is  told  in  such  a 


trated  with  five  choice  wood  engravings. 
's   dau 


tory  of  little  Peggy,  the  drunkard's  daughter, 
g  told  in  such  a  simple  yet  interesting  manner 
that  no  one  can  read  it  without  realizing  more 
than  ever  before  the  nature  and  extent  of  in 
temperance,  and  sympathizing  more  than  ever 
with  the  patient,  suffering  victim.  It  should 
b«  in  every  Sunday-school  library. 

Adopted.  i8mo,  236  pages.  By 
Mrs.  E.  J.  RICHMOND,  author  of 
ti  T<U_  A/T«  A  njof^^c.  "  <£i\  an 


Tim  book  is   written   in   an   easy,  pleasant 
vie,  seems  to  be  true  to  nature,  true  to  itself, 
ami  withal  is  full  of  the  Gospel  and  Temper 
ance. 

The  Bed  Bridge.     i8mo,  321  pages. 
By  THRACS  TALMAN,      .    .  $0  90 

We  have  met  with  few  Temperance  stories 
<-ontainin~  so  many  evidences  of  decided  ability 
ami  high  literary  excellence  a*  this. 


The  Old  Brown  Pitcher.  i2mo, 
222  pages.  By  the  Author  of 
"Susiers  Six  Birthdays,"  "The 
Flower  of  the  Family,  etc.,  $1  00 

Beautifully  illustrated.  This  admirable  vol 
ume  for  boys  and  girls,  containing  original 
stories  by  some  of  the  most  gifted  writers  lor 
the  young,  will  be  eagerly  welcomed  by  the 
children.  It  is  adMpte  I  afike  lor  the  family 
circle  and  the  Sabbath-school  library. 

Our  Parish.  i8mo,  252  pages.  By- 
Mrs.  EMILY  PEARSON,  .  .  $0  7» 

resulting : 

to  the  owner's  family,  as  well  as  to  the  families 
of  his  customers,  are  truthfully  presented.  The 
characters  introduced,  such  as  are  found  in 
almost  every  good-sized  village,  are  well  por 
trayed.  We  can  unhesitatingly  commend  it, 
and  bespeak  for  it  a  wide  circulation. 

The  Hard  Master.  181110,278  pages 
By  Mrs.  J.  E.  MCCONAUGHY,  au 
thor  of  "  One  Hundred  Gold  Dol 
lars,"  and  other  popular  Sunday- 
School  books, $0  85 

This  interesting  narrative  of  the  temptations, 
trials,  hardships,  and  fortunes  of  poor  orphan 
boy  illustrates  in  a  most  striking  manner  the 
value  of  "  right  principles,"  especially  of 
honesty  truthtulness,  and  TKMPERANCE. 

Echo  Bank.  i8mo,  269  pages.  By 
ERVIE .  .  $085 

This  is  a  well-written  and  deeply  interesting 
narrative,  in  which  is  clearly  shown  the  suffer 
ing  and  sorrow  that  too  often  follow  and  the 
dangers  that  attend  boys  and  young  men  at 
school  and  at  college,  who  suppose  they  can 
easily  take  a  glass  or  two  occasionally,  with 
out  fear  of  ever  being  aught  more  than  a  mode 
rate  drinker. 

Rachel  Noble's  Experience.  i8mo, 
325  pages.  By  BRUCE  EDWARDS. 

This  is  a  story  of  thrilling  interest,  ably  and 
eloquently  told.  (.  id  is  an  excellent  book  tor 
Sunday-school  libraries.  It  is  j  ust  the  book  for 
the  home  circle,  and  cannot  be  read  without, 
benenting  the  reader  and  advancing  the  cause 
of  Temperance. 

Gertie's  Sacrifice;  or  Glimpses  at 
Two  Lives.  i8mo,  189  pages.  By 
Mrs.  F.  D.  GAGE,  .  .  .  .  $0  50 

A  story  of  great  interest  and  power,  giving  a 
"  glimpse  at  two  lives,"  and  showing  how 
Gertie  sacrificed  henelf  ae  a  victim  of  fashion, 
custom,  and  law. 


The  National  Temperance  Society's  Books. 


Time  will  Tell.     12010,  307 
By  Mrs.  WILSON,  ....$! 

A  Temperance  tale  of  thrilling  interest  ami 
unexceptionable  moral  and  religious  tone.  It 
is  full  of  incidents  and  characters  of  everyday 
life  while  its  lessons  are  plainly  and  forcibly 
set  before  the  reader.  The  pernicious  results 
of  the  drinking  usages  in  the  family  and  social 
circle  are  plainly  set  forth. 

Philip  Eckert's  Struggles  and 
Triumphs.  i8mo,  216  pages.  By 
the  author  of  "  Margaret  Clair, 

This  interesting  narrative  of  a  noble,  manly 
bov.  in  an  intemperate  home,  fighting  with  the 
wrong  and  battling  for  the  right,  should  be 
read  by  every  child  in  the  land. 

Jug-Or-Not.  i2mo,  346  pages.  By 
Mrs.  J.  McNAiR  WRIGHT,  author 
of  "John  and  the  Demijohn," 
"Almost  a  Nun,1"  "  Priest  and 
Nun,"etc., $1  25 

It  is  one  of  her  best  books,  and  treats  of  the 
physical  and  hereditary  effects  of  drinking  in  a 
••lear,  plain,  and  familiar  style,  adapted  to 
>opular  reading,  and  which  should  be  read  by 
all  classes  in  the  community,  and  find  a  place 
in  every  Sunday-school  library. 

The  Broken  Bock.  i8mo,  139  pages. 
By  KRUNA,  author  of  "  Lift  a 
Little,"  etc., $0  50 

It  beautifully  illustrates  the  silent  and  holy 
influence  of  a  meek  and  lowly  spirit  upon  the 
heartless  rumseller  until  the  rocky  heart  was 
Broken. 

Andrew  Douglass.    i8mo,  232  pages, 

$0  75 

A  new  Temperance  story  for  Sunday-schools, 
written  in  a  lively,  energetic,  and  popular 
rtyle,  adapted  to  the  Sabbath-school  and  the 
family  circle. 

Vow  at  the  Bars.     i8mo,  108  pages. 

It  contains  four  short  tales,  illustrating  four 
important  principles  connected  with  the  Tem 
perance  movement,  and  is  well  adapted  for  the 
family  circle  and  Sabbath-school)  ibranes. 

Job  Tufton's  Best.  12010,  352 
pages $1  2o 

A  story  of  life's  struggles,  written  by  th 
"ifted  author,  CLARA  LUCAS  BALFOUR,  depict 
ing  most  skilfully  and  truthfully  many  a  life 
struggle  with  the  demon  of  intemperance  oc 
curring  all  along  life's  pathway.  It  1  s  a  finely 
written  story,  and  full  of  interest  from  the  be 
ginning  to  the  end.  "> 


Frank  Oldfleld ;  or,  Lost  and  Found. 

isrno,  408  pages,  .  .  .  .  $1  60 
This  excellent  story  received  the  prize  of 
£100  in  England,  out  of  eighty-three  mariu- 
cripts  submitted  ;  and  by  an  arrangement 
viththe  publishers  we  publish  it  inthiscoun- 
ry  with  all  the  original  illustrations.  It  is 
admirably  adapted  to  Sunday-school  libraries. 

Tom  Blinn's  Temperance  Society, 
and  other  Stories.  I2m°5  3tl6 
pages,  . $1  25 

This  is  the  title  of  a  new  book  written  by 
T.  S.  ARTHUR,  the  well-known  author  of  "  Ten 
Xij;hts  in  a  Bar-room,"  and  whose  fame  as  an 
uithor  should  bespeak  for  it  a  wide  circulation. 
t  is  written  in  Mr.  ARTHUR'S  best  style,  com 
wsed  of  a  series  o  tales  adapted  to  every  family 
md  library  in  the  land. 

The  Barker  Family.  i2mo,  336 
pages.  By  EMILY  THOMPSON, 

A  simple,  spirited,  and  interesting  narrative, 
..ritteu  in  a  style  especially  attractive,  depict 
ing  the  evils  that  arise  from  intemperance,  and 
the  blessings  that  followed  the  earnest  efforts 
of  those  who  sought  to  win  others  to  the  paths 
of  total  abstinence.  Illustrated  with  three  en 
gravings.  The  book  will  please  all. 

Come    Home,    Mother.      i8mo,   143 

Rages.     By  NELSIE  BROOK.      II- 
istrated  with  six  choice  engrav 
ings $0  50 

A  most  effective  and  interesting  book,  de 
scribing  the  downward  course  of  the  mother, 
and  giving  an  account  of  the  sad  scenes,  but  ef 
fectual- endoavon,  of  the  little  one  in  bringing 
her  mother  back  to  friends,  and  leading  her  to 
God.  It  should  be  read  by  everybody. 

Tim's  Troubles.  i2mo,  350  pages. 
By  Miss  M.  A.  PAULL,  .  .  $f  50 

This  is  the  second  Prize  Book  of  the  United 
Kingdom  Band  ot  Hope  Union,  and  which  has 
been  reprinted  in  this  country  with  all  the  cri 
minal  illustrations.  It  is  the  companion  of 
r'  Frank  Ohlfield,"  written  in  a  high  tone,  and 
will  be  found  a  valuable  addition  to  our  Tem 
perance  literature. 

The    Drinking    Fountain    Stories. 

i2mo,  192  pages,    .     .     .     .  $J 

This  book  of  illustrated  stories  for  children 
contains  articles  from  the  pen.s  ol  i-omeot  the 
best  writers  for  children  in  America,  and  is 
beautifully  illustrated  with  forty  dunce  wood 
engraving.  Itis  interspersed  with  short  stony 
and  anecdotes,  and  should  be  in  every  Sund.f 
school  library  and  in  the  hands  ot  «rery  child 
in  the  land.  >i 


The  National  Temperance  Society's  Books. 


Hopedale  Tavern,  and  What  it 
Wrought.  12010,  252  pages.  By 
J.  WILLIAM  VAN  NAMEE,  .  $1  00 

It  shows  the  sad  results  which  followed  the 
introduction  of  a  Tavern  and  Bar  in  a  beauti 
ful  and  quiet  country  town,  whose  inhabitants 
had  hitherto  lived  in  peace  and  enjoyment 
The  contrast  is  too  plainly  presented  to  fail  to 
produce  an  impression  on  the  reader,  making 
all  more  desirous  to  abolish  the  sale  of  all  in 
toxicants 

Roy's  Search;  or,  Lost  in  the  Cars. 

izmo,  364  pages.  By  HELEN  C. 
PEARSON, $1  25 

This  new  Temperance  book  is  one  of  the 
rn»st  interesting  ever  published— written  in  a 
fresh,  sparkling  style,  especially  adapted  to 
please  the  boys,  and  contains  so  much  that 
will  benefit  as  well  as  amuse  and  interest  that 
we  wish  all  the  boys  in  the  land  might  read  it. 

How  Could  He  Escape!  izmo,  324 
pages.  By  MRS.  J.  NcNAiR 
WRIGHT,  author  of  "Jug-Or- 
Not."  Illustrated  with  ten  en 
gravings,  designed  by  the  au 
thor,  .  .  .  .  .  .  $1  25 

This  is  a  true  tale,  and  one  of  the  writer's 
best  productions.  It  shows  the  terrible  effects 
of  even  one  glass  of  intoxicating  liquor  upon 
the  system,  of  one  unable  to  resist  its  influences, 
and  the  necessity  of  grace  in  the  heart  to  resist 
temptation  and  overcome  the  appetite  for  strong 
drink. 

The   Best   Fellow    in   the    World. 

ismo,    352    pages.      By    Mrs.    J. 
McNAiR  WRIGHT,  author of  "  Jug- 
Or-Not,"   "  How   Could  He  Es 
cape  ?"  "  Priest  and  Nun,"  etc., 
$1  25 

"The  Best  Fellow,"  whose  course  is  here 
nortrayed,  is  one  of  a  very  large  class  who  are 
led  astray  and  ruined  simply  because  they  are 
«uch  "  good  fellows."  To  all  such  the  volume 
•peaks  iii  thrilling  tones  of  warning,  shows  the 
Inevitable  consequences  of  indulging  in  strong 
drink,  and  the  necessity  of  divine  grace  in  the 
h«art  to  interpose  and  save  from  ruin. 

Frank    Spencer's    Rule     of    Life. 

i8mo,  1 80  pages.  By  JOHN  W. 
KIRTON,  author  of  "  Buy  Your 
Own  Cherries,"  "  Four  Pillars  of 
Temperance,"  etc.,  etc.,  .  $0  60 

Thl«  is  written  in  the  author's  b*!st  style, 
rooking  an  interesting  and  attractive  story  for 
children. 


The  Pitcher  of  Cool  Water.  i8mo, 
180  pages.  By  T.  S.  ARTHUR, 
author  of"  Tom  Blinn's  Temper 
ance  Society,"  "  Ten  Nights  in  a 
Bar-room,  etc.,  .  .  .  .  $0  50 

This  little  book  consists  of  s  series  of  Tem 
perance  stories,  handsomely  illustrated,  written 
m  Mr.  ARTHUR'S  best  style,  and  is  altogether 
one  of  the  best  books  which  can  he  placed  in 
the  hands  of  children.  Every  Sunday-school 
library  should  possess  it. 

Little  Girl  in  Black.  i2mo,  212 
pages.  By  MARGARET  E.  WIL- 

MER, $0   90 

Her  strong  faith  in  God,  who  she  believes 
will  reclaim  an  erring  father,  is  a  lesson  to  the 
reader,  old  as  well  as  young. 

Temperance  Anecdotes.  iamo,  288 
pages, $1  00 

This  new  book  of*Temperance  Anecdotee, 
edited  by  GEORGK  W.  BUKGAY,  contains  near 
ly  four  hundred  Anecdotes,  Witticism*,  Jokes, 
Conundrums,  etc.,  original  and  selected,  and 
will  meet  a  want  long  felt  and  often  expressed 
by  a  very  large  number  of  the  numerous  friends 
ot  the  cause  in  the  land.  The  book  is  hand 
somely  illustrated  with  twelve  choice  wood 
engravings. 

The  Temperance  Speaker.  By  J. 
N.  STEARNS, $0  75 

The  book  contains  288  pages  of  Declamations 
and  Dialogues  suitable  lor  Sunday  and  Day- 
Schools,  Bands  of  Hope,  and  Temperance  O'r- 
ganizations.  It  consists  of  choice  selections 
of  prose  and  poetry,  both  new  and  old,  irom 
the  Temperance  orators  and  writers  of  the 
country,  many  of  which  have  been  written  ex 
pressly  for  this  work. 

The  McAllisters.  i8mo,  211  pages. 
By  Mrs.  E.  J.  RICHMOND,  .  $0  50 

It  shows  the  ruin  brought  on  a  family  by  the 
father's  intemperate  habits,  and  the  strong 
faith  and  trust  of  the  wife  In  that  Friend  above 
who  alone  gives  strength  to  bear  our  earthly 
trials. 

The  Seymours.      i2mo,   231   pages. 
By  Miss  L.   BATES,    .     .     .  $f  0<V 
A  simple  story,  showing  how  a  refined  and 
cultivated  family  are  brought  low  through   the 
drinking  habits  of  the  father,  their  joy  and  sor 
row  as  he  reforms  only  to   fall  again,  and  hit 
final  happy  release  In  a  distant  city. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  s  Books. 


Era's  Engagement  Ring.  12010,  189 
pages.  By  MARGARET  E.  WIL- 
MER,  author  of  "  The  Little  Girl 
in  Black," $0  90 

In  this  interesting  volume  is  traced  the  career 
of  the  moderate  drinker,  who  takes  a  glass  in 
the  name  of  friendship  or  courtesy. 

Packington  Parish,  and  The  Diver's 
Daughter.  i2mo,  327  pages.  By 
Miss  M.  A.  PAULL,  .  .  .  $1  2o 

In  this  volume  we  see  the  ravages  which 
the  liquor  traffic  caused  when  introduced  in  a 
hitherto  quiet  village,  and  how  a  minister's  eyes 
were  at  length  opened  to  its  evils,  though  he 
had  always  declared  wine  to  be  a  "  good 
creature  of  God,"  meant  to  be  used  in  modera 
tion. 

Old  Times.  12010.  By  Miss  M.  D. 
CHELLIS,  author  of  "  The  Tem 
perance  Doctor,"  "  Out  of  the 
Fire,"  "  Aunt  Dinah's  Pledged' 
"At  Lion's  Mouth,"  etc.,  .  $1  25 

It  discusses  the  whole  subject  of  moderate 
drinking  in  the  history  of  a  New  England  vil 
lage.  The  incidents,  various  and  amusing,  are 
all  facts,  and  the  characters  nearly  all  drawn 
from  real  life.  The  five  deacons  which  figure 
so  conspicuously  actually  lived  and  acted  as  re 
presented. 

John    Bentley's    Mistake.       i8mo, 

177  pages.     By  Mrs.  M.  A.  HOLT, 

$0  50 

It  takes  an  important  place  among  our  tem 
perance  books,  taking  an  earnest,  bold  stand 
against  the  use  of  cider  as  a  beverage,  proving 
that  it  is  often  the  first  step  toward  stronger 
drinks,  forming  an  appetite  for  the  more  fiery 
liquids  which  cannot  easily  be  quenched. 

Nothing  to  Drink.  12010,  400 
iges.  By  Mrs.  J.  McNAiR 
TRIGHT,  author  of  "The  Best 
Fellow  in  the  World."  "  Jug-or- 
Not  "  "  How  Could  He  Escape  ?" 
etc.,  . $1  50 

The  story  Is  of  light-house  keeper  and 
thrilling  adventures  at  sea,  being  nautical, 
scientific,  and  partly  statistical,  written  in  a 
charming,  thrilling,  and  convincing  manner. 
It  goes  out  of  tho  ordinary  line  entirely,  most 
of  the  characters  being  portraits,  its  scenery 
all  from  absolute  facts,  every  scientific  and 
natural-history  statement  a  verity,  the  sea  in 
cidents  from  actual  experience  from  marine 
disaster*  for  the  last  ten  years. 


pa 
W 


The  Fire  Fighters.  12010,  294  pages. 
By  Mrs.  J.  E.  MCCONAUGHY,  au 
thor  of"  The  Hard  Master," 

$1  25 

An  admirable  story,  showing  hovr  a  number 
of  young  lads  banded  themselves  into  a  society 
to  fight  against  Alcohol,  and  the  good  they  did 
in  the  community. 

The  Jewelled  Serpent.  12010,  271 
pages.  By  Mrs.  E.  J.  RICHMOND, 
author  of"  Adopted,"  "The  Mc 
Allisters,"  etc., $1  00 

The  story  i-t  written  earnestly.  The  charac 
ters  are  well  delineated,  and  taken  froiri  the 
wealthy  and  fashionable  portion  of  a  l:\rge  city. 
The  evils  which  flow  from  fashionable  drink 
ing  are  well  portrayed,  and  also  the  danger 
arising  from  the  use  of  intoxicants  when  used  as 
medicine,  forming  an  appetite  which  fastens 
itself  wilh  a  deadly  hold  upon  its  victim. 

The  Hole  in  the  Bag,  and  Other 
Stories.  By  Mrs.  J.  P.  BALLARD 
author  of  "The  Broken  Rock,'' 
"  Lift  a  Little,"  etc.  121110,  $1  00 

A  collection  of  well-written  stories  by  thi» 
most  popular  author  on  the  subject  of  temper 
ance,  inculcating  many  valuable  lessons  in  the 
jjiinds  of  its  readers. 

The  Glass  Cable.  12010, 288  pages. 
By  MARGARET  E.  WILMER,  au 
thor  of  "The  Little  Girl  in 
Black,"  "  Eva's  Engagement 
Ring,"  etc., $1  25 

The  style  of  this  book  is  good,  the  characters 
well  selected,  and  its  temperance  and  religious 
truths  most  excellent.  The  moral  of  the  story 
shows  those  who  sneer  at  a  child's  pledge, 
comparing  its  strength  to  a  glass  cable,  that  it 
is  in  many  cases  strong  enough  to  brave  the 
storms  and  temptations  of  a  whole  lifetime. 

Fred's  Hard  Fight.  12010,  334 
pages.  By  Miss  MARION  HOW 
ARD,  $1  25 

"While  it  shows  the  trials  which  a  young  lad 
endured  through  the  temptations  and  entice 
ments  offered  him  by  those  opposed  to  his  firm 
temperance  and  religious  principles,  and 
warns  the  reader  against  the  use  of  every  kind 
of  alcoholic  stimulant,  it  points  also  to  Jesus, 
the  only  true  source  of  strength,  urging  all  to 
accept  the  promises  of  strength  and  salvation 
offered  to  every  one  who  will  seek  It. 


Children's  Tracts. 

A  series  of  fifty-four  illustrated  children's  tracts  have  been  published, 
adapted  for  circulation  in  Sunday-schools.    Per  thousand,  $3. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  s  Books. 


Miscellaneous 

Forty  Years'  Fight  with  the  Drink 

lamo,   400   pages.      By 
S  JEWETT,  M.D.;    .  $1  50 


Demon. 

CHARLES 


This  volume  comprises  the  history  of  Dr. 
Jewett's  public  and  private  labors  from  18i.'6  to 
the  present  time,  with  sketches  of  the  most 
popular  and  distinguished  advocates  of  the 
cause  in  its  earlier  stages.  It  also  records  the 
results  of  forty  years'  observation,  study,  and 
reflections  upon  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks 
and  drugs,  and  suggestions  as  to  the  best 
methods  01  advancing  the  cause,  etc.  The  book 
is  handsomely  bound,  and  contains  illustrated 
portraits  of  early  champions  of  the  cause. 

Drops  of  Water.  i2mo,  133  pages. 
By  Miss  ELLA  WHEELER,  $04  75 
A  new  book  of  fifty-six  Temperance  Poems 
by  this  young  and  talented  authoress,  suitable 
tor  reading  in  Temperance  Societies,  Lodge 
Rooms,  Divisions,  etc.  The  simplicity  of  man 
ner,  beauty  of  expression,  earnestness  of 
thought,  and  nobleness  of  sentiment  running 
through  all  of  them  make  this  book  a  real 
gem,  worthy  a  place  by  the  8ide  of  any  of  the 
poetry  in  the  country. 

Bound  Volume  of  Tracts.  500 
pages,  ........  $1  00 

This  volume  contains  all  the  four,  eight,  and 
twelve  page  tracts  published  by  the  National 
Temperance  Society,  including  all  the  prize 
tracts  issued  the  last  two  years  The  book 
comprises  Arguments,  Statistics,  Sketches,  and 
Essays,  which  make  it  an  invaluable  eolleclion 
for  every  friend  of  the  Temperance  Reform. 

Scripture  Testimony  Against  In 
toxicating  Wine.  '  By  Rev.  WM. 
RITCHIE,  of  Scotland,  .  .  $0  60 

An  unanswerable  refutation  of  the  theory 
that  th«  Scriptures  favor  the  idea  of  the 
use  of  intoxicating  wine  as  a  beverage.  It 
takes  the  different  kinds  of  wines  mentioned  in 
the  Scriptures,  investigates  their  specific  na 
ture,  and  shows  wherein  they  differ. 

Alcohol:   Its  Place  and  Power,  by 

JAMES  MILLER  ;  and  The  Use  and 
Abuse  of  Tobacco,   by  JOHN   Li- 

ZARS,        ........    $1    00 

Zoological  Temperance  Convention. 
By  Rev.  EDWARD  HITCHCOCK, 
D.D.,  of  Amherst  College,  $0  7£ 

This  fable  gives  an  interesting  and  entertain 
ing  account  of  a  Convention  of  Animals  held 
in   Central  Africa,  and  reports  th 
made  ou  the  occasion. 


Publications. 

Delavan's  Consideration  of  the  Tem 
perance  Argument  and  History, 
$160 

This  condensed  and  comprehensive  work  con 
tains  Essays  and  Selections  from  different  au 
thors,  collected  and  edited  by  EDWARD  C.  DK- 
LAVAN,  Esq.,  and  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
text-books  ou  the  subject  of  Temperance  ever 
issued. 

Bible  Rule  of  Temperance:  or, 
Total  Abstinence  from  all  Intox 
icating  Drinks.  By  Rev.  GEORGE 
DUFFIELD,  D.D.,  .  .  .  .  $0  60 

This  is  the  ablest  and  most  reliable  work 
which  has  been  issued  on  the  subject.  The  im 
morality  of  the  use,  sale,  and  manufacture  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  is  considered 
in  the  light  of  (,he  Scriptures,  and  the  will  and 
law  of  God  clearly  presented. 

Alcohol:   Its   Nature  and   Effects. 

By  CHARLES  A.  STOREY,  M.D., 

$0  90 

This  is  a  thoroughly  scientific  work,  yet 
written  in  a  fresh,  vigorous,  and  popular  style, 
in  language  that  the  masses  can  understand. 
It  consists  of  ten  lectures  carefully  prepared, 
and  is  an  entirely  new  work  by  one  amply  com 
petent  to  present  the  subject. 

Four  Pillars  of  Temperance.  By 
JOHN  W.  KIRTON,  ...  $0  75 

The  Four  Pillars  are,  Reason,  Science,  Scrip 
ture,  and  Experience.  The  l,..ok  is  argumenta- 
tive,  historical,  and  statistical,  and  the  facts, 
appeals,  and  arguments  are  presented  in  a  most 
convincing  and  masterly  manner. 

Communion  Wine;  or,  Bible  Tem 
perance,     By  Rev.   WILLIAM  M. 
THAYER.     Paper,  20  cents  :  cloth, 
$0  50 

An  unanswerable  argument  against  the  use 
of  intoxicating  wine  at  Communion,  and  pre 
senting  the  Bible  argument  in  favor  of  total 
abstinence. 

Laws  of  Fermentation  and  Wines 
of  the  Ancients.  i2mo,  120  pages. 
By  Rev.  WM.  PATTON,  D.D. 
Paper,  30  cts.  ;  cloth,  .  .  $0  60 

It  presents  the  whole  matter  of  Bible  Tem 
perance  and  the  winex  of  ancient  times  in  a 
new,  clear,  and  satis:  actory  manner,  develop 
ing  the  laws  of  fermentation,  and  giving  a  laru'j 
number  of  references  and  statistics  never  befon- 
collected,  showing  conclusively  the  existence  of 
uufermented  wine  in  the  olden  time. 


The  National  Temperance  Society's  Books. 


Text-Book  of  Temperance.  By 
Dr.  F.  R.  LEES $1  oO 

We  can  also  furnish  the  above  book,  wlm-h  is 
divided  into  the  following  parts  :  1.  Temp.-r- 
•i.ice  as  a  Virtue.  '2.  The  Chemical  History  ot 
Alcohol.  3  The  Dietetics  of  Temperance  4. 
The  Pathology  of  Intemperance.  5.  I  he  Medi 
cal  Question.  15  Temperance  in  Relation  to 
the  B-ble.  7.  Historical.  8.  The  National 
Question  and  the  Remedy.  9.  The  Philosophy 
ot'  Temperance. 

Bugle  Notes  for  the  Temperance 
Army.  Price,  paper  covers  30 
cents ;  boards, $0  «>» 

A  new  collection  of  Songs,  Quartets,  and 
Glees,  adapted  to  the  use  of  all  Temperance 
gatherings,  Glee  Clubs,  etc.,  together  with  the 
CMes  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  and  Uoed 
Templars. 

Temperance  Chimes.  Price,  in 
paper  covers,  30  cents,  single 
copies ;  $25  per  hundred.  Price, 
in  board  covers,  35  cents-  per 
hundred, ft-*0  l 

A  Temperance  Hvmn  and  Tune-Book  of  128 
pages,  comprising 'a  gre;.t  variety  ot  Uees, 
Longs  and  Hymns  designed  for  the  use iof  Tern, 
perauce  Meetings  and  Organizations,  Bands  Ot 
hope,  Gleo  Clubs,  and  the  Home  Circle.  Many 
of  the  Hymns  have  been  written  expressly  for 
this  book  by  some  ot  the  best  writers  m  the 
country. 

Bound  Tolumes  of  Sermons,  $1  50 

Seventeen  sermons  delivered  upon  the  Invi 
tation  of  The  National  Temperance  Society 
and  published  in  the  National  Series  have  all 
been  bound  in  one  volume,  making  «<»  WJ* 
of  the  best  temperance  matter  of  the  kind  ev 

W.  M.  Taylor. 


The  Bases  of  the  Temperance  Re 
form.  i2mo,  224  pages.  By  Rev. 
DAWSON  BURNS,  .  .  .  .  $1  00 

This  is  also  an  English  prize  essay,  which 
took  the  second  prize  under  the  liberal  offer  of 
James  Teare  for  the  best  essay  on  the  entire 
temperance  question.  A  very  able  and  tho 
rough  exposition  of  the  foundations  on  which 
the  temperance  cause  is  lounded  and  upbuilt. 
The  author  establishes  in  a  clear  and  satisfac 
tory  manner  the  propositions  that  the  drinking 
system  is  the  greatest  social  evil  in  the  land ; 
that  intoxicating  liquors  are  useless  and  injuri 
ous  as  articles  of  diet;  that  intemperance  is  a 
true  plague  which  can  only  be  effectually  sup 
pressed  by  the  exclusion  of  intoxicating  drinks  ; 
that  violence  is  done  to  the  will  of  God  and 
the  welfare  of  man  by  approximating  the 
Iruitsofthe  earth  to  the  production  ot  intoxi 
cating  drinks-,  that  the  sacred  Scriptures  do 
not  afford  sanction  to  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors. 

Bacchus    Dethroned.       12010,    248 

pages.     By  FREDERICK  POWELL, 

»p  1  00 

This  is  an  English  prize  essay,  written  in  re 
sponse  to  a  prize  offered  by  James  Teare,  ol 
England,  for  the  best  temperance  ssay.  It  is 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  convincing  works 
ever  issued.  The  question  is  presented  in  all 
its  phases,  physiological,  social,  political, 
mo'-al,  and  religious  It  i  very  couiprehen- 
iive  multiplying  facts,  abounding  in  argu 
ments  answering  objections,  and  enforcing 
powerful  and  pathetic  appeals.  The  author 
considers  1.  The  great  national  curse  8. 
The  supposed  dietetic  value  of  alcoholic 
beverages.  3.  The  physiological  relations  ot 
intoxicating  liquors.  4.  The  social  and  poli 
tical  a-gument.  5.  The  manufacture  ot  in 
toxicating  liquor  an  immorality.  6.  Teetotal- 
ism  a  scientific  truth.  7.  Teetotalisin  m 
relation  te  the  Bible.  8.  God's  great  remedy 
for  the  world's  great  curse.  9.  Legislation 
apd  the  liquor  traffic. 


Twenty-four  Page  Pamphlets.    (With  Covers.) 
Five  Cents  each  ;  60  Cents  per  Doz. 


A  Hi       Fence  of  15  Bars.     By 

The  Son  of  My  Friend.     By  T.  S.  Arthur. 


Lunanus. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  s  Books. 


Pamphlets. 


John  Swig.  A  Poem.  By  EDWARD 
CARSWELL.  12010,  24  pages.  Il 
lustrated  with  eight  characteristic 
engravings,  printed  on  tinted 
paper, B .  .  .  $0  15 

The  Rum  Fiend,  and  Other  Poems. 

By  WILLIAM  H.  BURLEIGH.  i2mo. 
46  pages.  Illustrated  with  three 
wood  engravings,  designed  bv 


EDWARD  CARSWELL. 


$0 


Suppression  of  the  Liquor  Traffic. 
A  Prize  Essay,  by  Rev.  H.  D. 
KITCHELL,  President  of  Middle- 
bury  College.  i2tno,  48  pp.,  $010 


Bound  and  Hovr;  or,  Alcohol  an  » 
Narcotic.  By  CHARLES  JEWETT, 
M.D.  i2rao,  24  pp.,  .  .  .  $0  10 

Scriptural  Claims  of  Total  Abstin 
ence.  By  Kev.  NEWMAN  HALL. 
i2ino,  62  pp., $0  15 

Buy  Your  Own  Cherries.     By  JOHN 

W.  KIRTON.     iimo,  32  pp.,  $0  20 

National  Temperance  Almanac   and 

Teetotaler's  Year  Book  for  1873, 

$0  10 

Illustrated  Temperance  Alphabet. 

$0  -h 


The  Youth's  Temperance  Banner 

The  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication  House  publish  a  beautifully  illustrated 
Monthly  Paper,  especially  adapted  to  children  and  youth,  Sunday-school  and  Juvenile  Tem 
perance  Organizations.  Each  number  contains  several  choice  engravings,  a  piece  of  music,  and  a 
great  variety  of  articles  from  the  pens  of  the  best  writers  for  children  in  America.  It  should  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  every  child  in  the  land. 


TERMS — IN  Am 


Single  copies,  one  year,  - 
Kight  copies,  to  one  addres 
Ten  •'  " 

Fifteen  "  "  " 

Twenty"  "  " 


-  $0  25 

-  1  00 

-  1  25 

-  1  88 

-  2  50 


Thirty  copies,  to  one  address, 
Forty        "    '       "          " 
Fifty         "  "          " 

One  Hundred        "          " 


-*3  75 

-  5  00 

-  6  2:. 

-  12  00 


The    Total    Abstainer's    Daily  Witness  and  Bible  Terdict.     75  Cents. 

This  is  a  series  of  Scripture  Texts  printed  on  thirty-one  large  sheets,  arranged  so  tliat  one  cau 
he  used  for  each  day  in  the  month.  The  size  of  each  sheet  is  19  by  12  inches,  all  fastened  together 
with  roller  and  cord,  so  as  to  be  easily  hung  up  in  room,  office,  workshop,  etc, ;  and  turning  over 
a  sbet't  day  by  day  as  required. 

New  Temperance  Dialogues. 


The  First  Glass  ;  or,  The  Power  of  Wo 
man's  Influence. 

The  Young  Teetotaler ,  or,  Saved  at 

Last.  15  cents  each.  Per  dozen,  .  $1  50 

Reclaimed;  or.  The  Danger  of  Mode 
rate  Drinking.  10  cents.  Per 
dozen,  1  00 

Marry  No  Man  if  he  Drinks  ;  or,  Laura's 
Plan  and  How  it  Succeeded.  10 
cents.  Per  dozen 1  00 


Which   Will   You    Choose!     36  pages. 
By  Miss   M.    D.  Chellis.     15  cents. 

Per  dozen, $l   r,0 

Aunt  Dinah's  Pledge.  Dramatized,  .  015 
The  Temperance  Doctor.  Dramatized,  0)5 
Wine  as  a  Medicine.  lOc.  Per  dozen..  1  00 
The  Stumbling-Block.  lOc.  Per  dozen,  100 
Trial  and  Condemnation  of  Judas  Woe- 
maker.  15  cents.  Per  dozen,  .  .  1  50 
Temperance  Exercise,  .  «  .  .  0  10 


Band  of  Hope  Supplies, 


Band  of  Hope  Manual.  Per  dozen.  $0  60 

Temperance  Catechism.  Per  dozen,  60 

Band  of  Hope  Melodies.  Paper,  10 

Bund  of  Hope  Badge.  Enamelled,  $1  25  • 

per  dozen;    12  cents  singly.     Piain, 

f  1     per    dozen ;    10    cents    singly. 

Silver    and     Enamelled,    50    cents 

each. 


IB  Temperanc 

Illuminated  Temperance  Cards 
ten.    - 


-  $0  25 

Set  of 

35 


Juvenile  Temperance  Pledges.     Per  100,  300 

Certificates  of  Membership.     Per  100,    -  3  00 

The  Temperance  Speaker,       -        -        -  75 
Catechism  on  Alcohol.     By  Miss  Julia 

Coltnnn.     Per  dozen,         ...  60 


Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price.     Address 

J.  N.  STEA  K  NS,  Publishing  Agent, 

68  RKADE  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

deskiromwbjch  borrowed. 
This  m™«*niU»onjt*»:*i  i<»te  stamped  below. 


LIBRAPV  "CF 

DEC  29  1bb2 


LD  21-100m-7,'52(A2528sl6)476 


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J 


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